


Ludwig

by RebelStoryTeller



Category: Biker Mice From Mars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 20:46:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18557542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelStoryTeller/pseuds/RebelStoryTeller





	Ludwig

**It had been six months since Terrence had returned to work from his absence and while things were back to running smoothly under his command once more, his long forgotten captors were once again plotting to get him back this time with Raven and Sparrow their older siblings at the helm, they thought that they knew just how to get him back.**

**For Sierra the time had come to finally have her cast removed and to have her six month pregnancy check but with an influx of wounded coming in,Terrence's attention devoted to sorting out who was more serious versus who could wait and with his temper at an all time short, she decided to wait a few more weeks to have her cast removed and went back to earth to make an appearance at her hockey game by sitting in the stands,unaware that Ludwig had blindly followed her through the transporter only to wind up outside what appeared to be an abandoned Country Chalet when he felt a sharp pick in the back and collapsed to the ground out cold.**

**When he woke he found himself unable to move or speak as his captors had tightly and firmly bound him to a straight back chair and sealed his mouth with a long thick strip of leather with straps that were pulled tight to keep him quiet, then tied a piece of rope around his neck so that when he dared to fall asleep and his head lurched forward, the rope pulled on the bucket which tipped forward dumping ice cold water down onto him drenching him clothes and all causing him to shiver due to the cold air that was blowing from the hidden air conditioner, all he could do day after day and night after night was sit, hope and pray that Terrence didn't fall for their phoney call for help.**

**Raven opens the door to the sealed empty windowless room, steps in, shuts the door and walks over to the center of the room saying: So you're the boy that Doc has tailing him around eh? Well get comfy my friend as you're going to be here a very long time! You see my brothers were stupid last time, they allowed him to leave and go back to his life, but with you here he's bound to come looking for you now isn't he?!**

**Ludwig:** Mmmmmmmmmm

 **Raven:** Is it too warm in here for you?

**Ludwig with the last bit of his strength he shakes his head no then passes out from exhaustion only to be splashed with another bucket of cold water to wake him up**

**Raven:** Keep falling asleep like that and the water keeps on coming! Since it's too warm in here, I'll turn up the cool air for you

 **Ludwig to himself:** _I can't take this much more! I haven't slept in months! When? When will I be able to fall asleep without being hit by freezing cold water? I should've called Sierra's cell phone again to see if she'd come back for me instead of going off half cocked and now I'm paying for my stubbornness_. **(Feels as his chest constricted for a cough that never came and thinks)** _I must've caught a cold from these wet clothes and the cold air! My throat is killing me, my head is splitting, I'm freezing one minute and boiling hot the next minute. This can't be good! Hopefully someone somewhere will find me before too long!_

 **Raven notices a red flush across Ludwig's face and says:** Aww we're too hot aren't we? Well, stay comfy and I'll turn up the Polar Air Conditioning for you! See you again at meal time! **(Turns and heads towards the door that he opened and disappeared into the hall way where he turned up the polar air conditioner directly over Ludwig)**

**Meanwhile behind a forgotten window that hadn't been sealed, a brown furred blonde haired figure swift as shadows came out,stopped infront of Ludwig's chair, reached behind him and unfastened his gag**

**Medley reaches behind Ludwig's head and unfastens the gag from over his mouth, sets it on the floor and gently pats his cheeks until he partially opened his eyes saying:** Oh thank the stars you are alright!

 **Ludwig forces his eyes open and in a very hoarse voice barely above a whisper says:** _Who're you?_

 **Medley:** I am known as Melodic Lunar Wishing Star or just plain old Medley. What of you strange one with no fur, tail, antenna or mouse features, how did you come to be here in this chalet of horrors? Oh my stars! Forgive me! I am so sorry! Where are my manners?! I forgot to ask if you are alright!

 **Ludwig in a very hoarse voice barely above a whisper:** _I thought I <cough,cough, cough, cough > was following someone I knew and woke up here tied to this chair with that bucket of ice water tied to my neck that cascades water down over me each time I fall asleep. I'm so very tired and so very thirsty, soaking wet and so very cold! Please if you have any, a drink of water would very much be appreciated._

 **Medley follows the rope around Ludwig's neck to the bucket, sets her pack down, opens it, pulls out a collapsable plastic glass that she dipped in the bucket above Ludwig's head filling it with all the ice cold water then carefully brings it up out of the bucket,lowering it down to his mouth and lifts it to his lips saying:** Here, drink this. It will make you feel better! You need not worry about getting doused with ice cold water when you doze off, as this is everything that was in the bucket and I doubt that they have any more water handy to refill that bucket.

 **Ludwig in a very hoarse voice barely above a whisper:** _I have been craving a glass of cold water for ages but I never got one._ **(Takes a long drink of the cold water until the glass was empty and Luna took it away collapsing it back down to a cube saying)** _That felt wonderful, thank you so much! Where are you from Medley? How old are you? You can't be more than sixteen or seventeen!_

 **Medley:** Uhh hoo, **(finally resigns herself to tell Ludwig snippits about herself saying)** As you can plainly tell by the way I speak, I come from the 'lost' Native Martian Tribe of Wish Granters. Me? I just turned thirteen last week. I have been here since I was three, the last ten years of my life have been spent trying to get away from here and get back to my parents and my tribe from whom I was taken away forcefully at age three. I technically still am three just forcefully grown up by their dark magic. Have you never heard of wishers?

 **Ludwig recalls reading a book from Arsis Base's library about the lost tribe and replies in a voice barely above a whisper:** _I'm faintly familiar with your tribe's abilities. I'm ashamed to say it, but I've known people who had taken a friend's ability to grant wishes for granted._

 **Medley in an angry voice:** How could they take their abilities for granted?! Did they know how dangerous that is and what it does to the person whom they have taken for granted's sense of trust? What did these people do to them?!

 **Ludwig in a very hoarse voice barely above a whisper:** _Kept wishing for so many things, they wore her to the point that she begged them to stop before she passed out._

 **Medley:** Did they stop when she begged them to stop or did they greedily continue to ask for wishes to be granted?

 **Ludwig flashes back to the time new comers had taken Cassidy's abilities to the limit and says:** _They refused to listen to me when I said stop and they pushed her right to the edge, they were greedy at the time and couldn't get it into their heads that my friend's daughter was fighting for her life until the last wish was granted and she collapsed. M-my friend's father still hasn't forgiven them for endangering his child's life._

 **Medley:** What of your friend? Has she regained consciousness?

 **Ludwig in a very hoarse voice barely above a whisper:** _I don't know, I honestly don't know if Cassidy's regained her consciousness or not. I had planned on going to see her after going to another friend's hockey game but I wound up here instead, so I don't know if Cassidy's awakened or is still in an magic induced sleep._

 **Medley hears someone coming down the hall towards the room and says:** I am so very sorry, I hate to do this but I must refasten your gag and leave before they find me here! They know of who I am and I have no desire for them to learn of me being here, for I fear what they may force me to do once they learn of what I can do unrestricted. **(Picks up the leather muzzle and refastens it over Ludwig's mouth ensuring to pull the straps good and tight then grabs her bag and disappears behind the long forgotten window curtain thinking)** _Oh no! I completely forgot to learn his name!_

 **Raven unlocks the door to Ludwig's room and slams it open saying:** Come out,come out from where ever you are little Melodic Lunar Wishing Star! I know you've somehow gotten out of your room so come on out or else **(steps behind Ludwig's chair, pulls out his blade, lays it against his throat and says)** I slit his throat from ear to ear!

 **Medley claps her hand over her mouth and fights the urge to cry and run out to her new friend's defense and thinks:** _Be strong Medley, do not give in! Be strong!_

 **Raven presses the blade against Ludwig's throat even harder saying:** You don't want me to slit his throat now do you?!

 **Sparrow comes in behind Raven and holds out his hand in which a onyx control crystal sat and says:** Since you don't want to come out willingly, I'll FORCE you out the fast way. **(Begins reading off a incantation card as he moved along the wall saying)** Melodic Lunar Wishing Star, Princess of the Northern Martian Mountain Indian Mice Tribe, bearer of the sacred powers of wish granting

**Medley begins to feel faint and dizzy as her onyx crystal collar began to glow as Sparrow moved closer to her hiding spot**

**Sparrow continues reciting the incantation:** Come forth to grant thy wish

**Ludwig watches in horror as his new friend fought valiantly to resist coming out only to hear the last verse being read**

**Sparrow:** Melodic Lunar Wishing Star, come forth and grant thine wish!

 **Medley unable to resist the power of her control crystal finally comes out of hiding and says in a monotoned voice:** I am Princess Melodic Lunar Wishing Star, Princess of the wishing magic, what is thy wish oh master of mine?

 **Sparrow:** I KNEW you were in here!

 **Ludwig looks at Luna and thinks:** _You poor soul, how can they do this to you?! You were so sweet and kind to me and yet this is how it ends, you being forced to do something you have no want or desire to do._

 **Medley:** What is thy wish oh master of mine? Keep in mind I cannot kill or resurrect the dead,force once captives to return, nor am I capable of hurting others ,that is beyond my current capabilities. .

 **Sparrow:** My wish

 **Ludwig thinks to himself:** _I know that glint! Luna's only thirteen years old!_

 **Sparrow:** Is for you to marry him **(points to Ludwig saying)** and bear him children!

 **Medley:** I am unable enter into any contract of any kind unless the union is approved of and blessed by the Chief.

 **Raven comes up with a quick lie and says:** The Chief is long gone! Thousands of years have come and gone since you've been brought here!

 **Medley to herself:** _Father is dead? How-how-how long have I truly been here?! Has it truly been thousands of years as he says it has?_ **(focuses on her father's magic link and feels how strong it is then says)** I-I cannot enter into any marriage with a complete stranger! Have you another wish?

 **Sparrow:** Yes I do

 **Medley:** What is it Master?

 **Sparrow:** I wish to know _EVERYTHING_ about your tribe!

 **Raven:** YOU MORON! YOU'LL KILL HER WITH THAT WISH! THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE!

 **Sparrow:** FINE! If I can't have that wish and we can't have our former house guest back, I'll settle for your marriage to him, with Raven as a witness. The marriage will happen at sundown on Sunset Hill!

 **Medley silently sends a prayer of her own thinking:** _Father if you ARE alive, please come to Sunset Hill at Sundown!_

 **Ludwig stares at Medley and thinks:** _She's far too young to get married to me! But what can I do? I'm unable to move an inch! Medley you have your whole life ahead of you! You don't need to be tied to me! Especially doing my job ,if I still have it when I get out of here! Oi Terrence is gonna have my head on a platter if and when I get out of here for this stunt! I could probably even face a hefty suspension just like Sierra did six months ago for that stupid stunt I pulled and pinned on her. Shouldn't have done it but I did and I regretted not speaking up at the time every day of the week. I came so close to telling Terrence the truth, but at the last minute I backed down and didn't bother telling the truth and allowed Sierra to take the fall for my stupidity. If and when I ever get out of here, I CAN'T back away, I HAVE to tell Terry the truth about what really happened that day and who really perpetraited the prank, suspension or not, I have to face up to what I did and take the fall like a responsible person!_

 **Raven puts his blade away and heads out the door saying to Ludwig:** I'll be back for you later!

 **Sparrow grabs Medley by her upper arm and drags her along behind him saying:** We've got to get you ready for your wedding later tonight! **(Drags Medley out of the sealed room and off to the fitting room where the fitter was waiting to fit her for her wedding dress)**

**Meanwhile on Mars**

**Sierra enters the med ward through the swinging doors and sees Terry rushing around like a chicken with his head cut off and hesitantly says:** Uhh Terry?

 **Terrence not noticing Sierra was in front of him slams into her knocking her backwards as he says:** Oh are you alright? I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there! Let me help you back up! **(Holds out his left hand and grabs Sierra's right hand to pull her back to her feet saying)** I should really start paying attention to where I'm going and things like this wouldn't happen. **(Notices her cast and says)** Right, your cast was due to come off a few weeks ago wasn't it?

 **Sierra looks down at her casted left arm and says:** Yeah, it as due to come off a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was wall to wall casualties and I had no want, desire or interest in being yelled at again for getting in the way. So I opted to wait until things calmed down to try again, last thing I needed was to get screamed at again to get out of the way. Besides I was dealing with four kids home from Nursery School with head colds they got from another little kid who had a headcold. Now that they're back in Nursery School and it's  _that_ time of the year, I'm waiting for one of the kids to wake up covered head to toe in spots At least four other kids in their Nursery Class have shown up with Chicken Pox and were sent home.

 **Terrence heaves a sigh and says:** Wonderful,head colds and the possibility of Chicken Pox in Nursery School...watch them closely and disinfect  _everything_ , hats,coats,shoes, back packs,lunch bags,treat bags and toys. The quicker you can nip the spread of the head cold virus,the less of a chance it has to develop into the flu. Keep back combing their fur at night and checking for spots,they're bound to show up. I know and I'm so very sorry I haven't have time to get to you until now, but staying out of the way was your best option. Your immune system is still down for repairs with medication and who knows what some of the wounded were carrying in terms of viruses.

 **Sierra:**  Especially with another on the way making me throw up at the sight and smell of food.

 **Terrence:**  Which brings us to your arm, it's time to take that cast off your arm and see how well those breaks have healed. Go find a bed to sit on and I'll be right there.

 **Sierra:** By the way, where's Ludwig these days? He's usually the first one to greet me when I walk in peppering me with questions on when Bubbles will be ready for adoption and what it takes to look after her.

 **Terrence heaves a sigh and says** : I have no idea where he got off to. Wish I did, it's not like him to be gone for this long without telling me where he's going. **(Remembers Ludwig's wish to see a hockey game and one of Sierra's concerts and says)** Did he follow you back to Anaheim when you went back to make an appearance for your team?

 **Sierra:** No, not that I'm aware of, I told him time and again that because he doesn't know how to use the transporter, to give me a call and I'd come back and take him with me, that way he wouldn't get lost. **(pulls out her cell phone and checks the list of missed calls and says)** Nope he didn't call or text me. I gave him my phone number so he can call me. It's a dangerous trip if you don't know how to set the transporter to Anaheim or Chicago, who knows where you can end up. **(Heads off towards an empty bed where she sits her bag on the chair, hops up on to the bed)**

 **Terrence finally arrives with the cast saw and begins following the line of the cast from below Sierra's right elbow to below the tip of her little finger cracking it open and slipping it off saying:** There we go one dingy beat up cast removed. **(Turns and grabs a damp cloth that he ran down the length of Sierra's arm cleaning the cast residue off saying)** Now to get some xrays of that arm and see if it's fully healed or if that fall a few weeks ago did any more damage or if I need to put on another cast for another eight weeks. **(Sees Bryant walking by and steps away from Sierra saying)** Bryant?

 **Bryant looks up from his schedule and says:** Yeah?

 **Terrence:** Could you get the portable X-Ray and do her arm for me?

 **Bryant heads over in the direction of the portable X-Ray machine, grabs ahold of it and drags it over to where Sierra sat and set it up saying:** Here we are just hold still. **(Snaps a few good shots of Sierra's left arm and says)** Looks good, the fracture zones have healed nicely over the eight weeks. Uh-oh what's this? **(Zooms in on the spot where the fractures hadn't fully healed yet and says)** Oh no, there's still some breaks that haven't healed up yet. A newer pressure cast ought to speed things up a bit.

 **Terrence notices the breaks and says:** Unfortunately for you, I have to recast your arm from the wrist up about mid forearm for another eight weeks. I'll fill out more waivers for you extending your medical leave of absence from all activities.

 **Bryant:** Yep the other more serious breaks that imobilized your arm are healing nicely but they still need the support of a cast to continue healing. **(Notices Sierra's old cast and says)** It looks like your old cast is full up with signatures. Just need to fix the seam and you can keep that cast as a momento of one idiots stupid move that got his ass fired by Marshall. **(Turns off the portable xray machine and says)** I'll go gather up the materials for the new pressure cast and bring them over. **(Pushes the portable xray machine back over to it's spot against the wall then disappears into the storage room to gather the materials for a pressure cast then returns with a bucket with a bottle of water in it along with the casting materials and says while removing the items)** This won't be but a minute. Just have to open this jug of water and empty enough of it into the bucket to mix the casting powder then soak the pressure cast materials in the goop and goop up your arm with the casting strips. This stuff is quick drying so it'll be drier faster than the first time you had a cast put on. **(Pulls on a pair of gloves and proceeds to start submerging white and colored gauze strips in the paste then handing them off to Terrence to wrap tightly around Sierra's arm until the last strip was pulled out and wrapped around her arm as he pulled out the heated sleeve that he slipped over Sierra's cast and turned on to dry the cast saying)** In three minutes your new colored cast will be completley dried and cured. **(Sets the timer for three minutes then waits until the timer went off then removed the drying sleeve and knocks on the cast saying** ) All dry and you are set to go about your day even if it means going back home and back to bed.

 **Terrence finishes filling out waiver forms for Sierra and says:** She's not done here yet, I've still gotta check her over and see how her breathing is behaving then go over her most recent labs with her and tweak her pregnancy diet again. Seems this one doesn't like what mom's eating.

 **Bryant peels off his gloves and dryly replies:** Sounds like a barrel of fun. About as much fun as my last root canal and that wasn't much fun. Three hours in my brother's dental chair getting my back teeth fixed then eight hours of mind numbing pain when the freezing wore off. I'll see you when your arm has fully healed to start on some physio therapy to strengthen the weak muscles. Sounds like my wife's pregnancy with my daughter, nothing she ate agreed with the little monster.  **(Heads off to finish organzing his schedule before he got further behind)**

**Meanwhile back on Earth**

**Raven slips back into the room where Ludwig was tightly tied to the chair carrying a garment bag over his shoulder and shoe box under his arm saying:** Well buddy it's an hour until your wedding starts! It's time to get you off that chair and into this tux! **(Hangs the garment bag on the back of the door and sets the shoe box on the table to his right then walks over and begins to untie the tightly tied ropes from around Ludwig's body then removed his gag and the rope from around his neck that was attached to the bucket above saying as he yanked him to his feet,went back over to the door,took down the garment back and picked up the shoe box from the table shoved him around the privacy screen)** Not a word out of you! Take these and go get changed! You've got twenty minutes before we have to head out to Sunset Hill where you'll be married. Hurry up and get dressed! I've also got you some decent dress shoes to wear! Can't wear those scuffed up old military issued boots or your current clothes now can we? You change and I'll wait out here for you.

**Ludwig stumbles towards the changing room which was swimming before his eyes with the tux and dress shoes then headed around the screen where an older distinguished man stepped out to help him out of his soaking wet clothes and into the tux and dress shoes**

**Northwind lays his hand over Ludwig's forehead and says in a hushed voice:** _Son you are burning up like you're walkin through a fire storm! You're in no condition to do anything you don't want to do ._

 **Ludwig in a faint voice:** _I've no say in the matter,though I-I do feel light headed and dizzy, as though I could easily pass out right now._

 **Raven in an impaitent tone of voice hollers out:** HEY! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG BACK THERE? IS HE DRESSED OR NOT BIJORN?

 **Northwind sticks his head around the privacy screen and says:** Terribly sorry this is taking so long, his clothes are so wet they're sticking to his skin. I have to thoroughly dry him off before redressing him. Why don't you go and oversee the set up of the venu while I deal with him?

 **Raven:** Fine, I'll go see where I can be of some use. **(Turns,walks over to the door,opens it and heads out allowing the door to slam shut behind him as he headed out to Sunset Hill to see where he could be of some use)**

 **Northwind takes the garment bag from Ludwig's arms** **and hangs it up then sets aside the box of dress shoes saying:** Let's start with getting your soaked clothes off of you before you get any worse!

**Ludwig slowly begins to peel his soaking wet clothes off frequently stopping when the inky blackness threatened to engulf him until at long last all his dirty soaking wet clothes were in a puddle on the floor which were scooped up by a teenage boy who whisked them off to be laundered and he had a warm fleecy bathrobe on it their place**

**Northwind:** Come with me and we'll get you warmed up enough to handle being outside. As it is, you are freezing cold to the touch. Come along, just follow me into the next room and you can soak in nice hot water.

 **Ludwig allows Northwind to guide him into the next room where a tub had been filled with warm water then carefully sticks one foot into the warm water then the next until he removed the bathrobe and carefully sat down in the warm bath water saying:** I haven't felt this warm in ages. It feels nice to finally warm up again.

 **Northwind picks up then dumps a bucket of warm water over Ludwigs head and says:** My friend, we've got to get you cleaned up if you're going to make them believe that you're ready to marry my daughter which I HIGHLY doubt you want to do as she's still very much a child at three years old.

 **Ludwig:** Your daughter? Is she named Medley?

 **Northwind:** Yes that's her. Ahh so you've met my daughter.

 **Ludwing:** She was sweet enough to drain the water from the bucket over my head and give it to me in a collapsible glass when no one else even thought of giving me a drink. Did she always wear an onyx control collar that raced her through life on her neck that put her into a trance?

 **Northwind becomes concerned saying:** Absolutley not! That collar is NEVER to be used on ANYONE to control them or to hurry up their growth and maturity! Medley was barely three when they took her! She should still barely be three! They're forcing you to marry a child that isn't ready to grow up yet, she never had a chance to enjoy her childhood! That is not what it is for. They've tampered with it, that is a training collar for young wishers who have magic growth spurts, all it really is supposed to do is help the young wisher learn to focus and control their abilities. They wear it for six to eight months then move on to tougher training with Trixie-my wife until they graduate and have their abilities under complete control. My brother's not going to be too happy that they have messed with his niece's future training collar. That collar was designed to help her start to control the next phase of her magic when she hits her teens as that's the when wishing magic starts acting up granting unintentional wishes. As for now, my tribe is outside posing as the wedding Caterers, my brother is posing as the efficiant,my only job is to get you warmed and cleaned up then dried off and dressed. **(Grabs the shampoo and squeezes a generous puddle into the palm of his hand and begins to vigorously scrub Ludwig's dirty black hair until the once white suds turned from grey to black then picked up another bucket and dumped it over his head rinsing the two in one shampoo and conditioner out of his hair saying)** Warm enough yet?

 **Ludwig forces himself to keep awake and says in a hoarse voice:** _As warm as I'll ever be. Right now I-I can barely keep my eyes open, I'm so tired._

 **Northwind:** I know you're exhausted and you're also sick, but bear with us a while longer. For now it's time to get up out of that tub,dry off and get into your wedding clothes. The clothes you were wearing are being washed right now. Think you can handle the rest on your own?

 **Ludwig in a hoarse voice:** I'll manage getting out of the tub,dried off and dressed on my own. I'll do my best anyways.

 **Northwind nods and says:** Then I'll go get your clothes ready for you and get your go bag ready. **(Thinks to himself)** Now to get intouch with her highness and alert her that Ludwig is going to be on his way back very soon! **(Pulls out his Crystalline Sat Phone and typed out the message) Sunset Hill Plan Ago! Musician will be on his way back to concert very soon. Must have someone check him over,burning up with fever,little to no energy or strength and voice faltering. (hits the send message button and waits for a reply that came back saying)** Bring sick musician to road at bottom of S.H., will take it from there. When things go south, bus with me on it will be waiting to scoop up musician and return him home! **(reads the message and thinks)** Now to ensure my daughter doesn't end up forcefully married to him! They're not right for eachother not to mention the age gap between them is way too big for my liking! **(Hears the door to the bathroom opening up and says)** You look human again! Here is everything you need to get ready for your 'big night'. **(Hands Ludwig clean socks and other things along with his fresh medward clothes saying)** Now you get dried off and get dressed before you get any worse than what you are now!

**Ludwig takes the clothes and heads back into the bathroom where he slowly got dried off then dressed in medward clothes and put on the new shoes then opened the door again and with the room starting to swim before his eyes again, he used the wall for support until he got to the bed that had been hidden in the corner of the room and sat down on it breathing heavily.**

**Ten minutes later Mirage Star knocks on the door to Ludwig's room**

**Mirage opens the door and says:** Northwind you in here?

 **Northwind comes out and says:** I am,what's up?

 **Mirage brings forth Medley saying:** Found her! She reverted back to her true form! She was locked in the Nursery hugging her bear and crying on the bed in a filthy powder pink dress, white tights and powder blue buckle shoes. I got her out of those clothes and into a tub of warm water for a bath and here she is nice and clean in a fresh dress,tights and shoes.

 **Northwind drops to his knees and gathers his daughter in his arms saying:** MEDLEY! It's been too long since they took you from the playground! Tell me they didn't hurt you!

 **Mira:** No they just left her in the Nursery and locked the door after she reverted back to her real self.

 **Northwind lets go of his daughter and says:** Take her out to Trixie, I can't have her here right now, I don't know what he's caught but I don't want Medley to catch it. Besides momma will want to see her baby after all this time. Medley go with aunt Mira and go find mommy kay? I'll be done with what I'm doing as fast as I can! Besides you need to get something to eat and have a nap in a safe environment.

 **Mira holds out her hand and says:** C'mon Medley lets go find your--oh speak of the devil here she is. Go get her Medley.

**Medley lets go of Mira's hand and runs directly to her mother**

**Trixie drops to her knees and catches her daughter saying:** Oh thank the gods you're safe and clean! If their magic has worn off, then who the duece is that boy supposed to be marrying?! **(Stands up holding Medley saying)** I'll get her out of here and back home, besides **(looks down and notices Medley was sound asleep in her arms and says)** she's out for the count, too much of everything happening at once. My door back home should still be open. **(Turns, reaches out and grasps midair allowing a golden doorknob to appear in her hand then twists it counter clockwise opening the door then disappears into the doorway with her still sleeping daughter allowing the door to close behind her)**

**Meanwhile at the bottom of Sunset Hill Sierra's tour bus had just come through a Guardian Gate Way that remained opened for a swift get away**

**Marshall:** Please tell me we're not scouting out a new venue for a new tour! I need a break! Your mother just had your baby brother and needs me home for awhile. Even Noelle and Bridgette want me home. It'd be nice to spend more time with them and bond better with your new brother, his birth took it out of your mother. She developed an infection and a fever after his birth. I'd also like to get back into Teaching full time in a class room. It's been ages since I taught anyone other than the band.

 **Sierra heaves a sigh,holds up her casted arm and says:** Seriously? Do you think Jet would let me go back on the road with this clunker on my arm and an infection refusing to get lost? This is more to do with Ludwig's rescue than the next tour. I know,we ALL need a break and time off the road, hell knows I do! A nice year or six off the road that will at least give me time to do a couple of figure skating tour circuits maybe even a few Hockey Tournaments that because of these tours, I haven't been able to do. Maybe I'll even stretch out my Medic Training a few more years, hell only knows I'll have nothing better to do since I won't be touring for awhile or maybe I'll put more time into my newest graphic novel that's been shelved due to lack of time. Working on my newest graphic novel that doesn't involve teenage zombies sounds a helluva lot better than dragging out my Medic Training and Schooling. I've had all I can take of the road and venues that aren't what they're advertised as and shady promoters who are more interested in promoting sexy lingerie clad women than fully clothed teenage girls and boys with morals. No we're not scouting a new locale for the next concert. Right now I seriously doubt mom would go for that, fourth grade home school was bad enough, I was damned glad when they found four permanent teachers. I was so sick of being treated and spoken to like a little kid. Why not go back to your roots, go back to being who you really  _are?_ Have you even been in the Gardens? They're a mess! People plant things then just give up when they don't work out.  _Someone_ needs to clean up the gardens, you're the only Gardener Genie I know that has survived this long outside our world.

 **Dustin:** Wait-wait-wait! You were HOMESCHOOLED?

 **Sierra:** Only for fourth and fifth grade, after that they finally found four new teachers as to whom the Academy's Hiring Board wouldn't allow the Army to divert to the field. They came with papers stating they were there to teach fifth to eighth grade not to be sent out into the field for make work.

 **Dustin:** What was the thought of the home schooling group?

 **Sierra:** Mom hated the Home School Group Teacher. What was it she called her again......oh great now I can't remember what she called her

 **Marshall:** Airhead,ditz,absent minded, breeder

 **Dustin:** Breeder?!

 **Marshall:** Oh my god where to I start? The first nine months of fourth grade she was pregnant, had a set of twins and was nursing every time you turned around. Nine months later she was pregnant again, had another set of twins, got pregnant again for a third time, delivered that set of twins, got pregnant for a fourth time, had that set of twins, got pregnant again for a fifth time had twins nine months later another set of twins were birthed. Basically every nine months she was popping a kid. Before the end of fourth grade, she had twelve kids in varying stages of potty training and diapers, popping them out in two's because her husband was one of four kids the same age. Tell me we're done looking at venues for awhile.

 **Sierra:** I've had all I can take of showing up to venues in concert dress only to hear 'What are you wearing?! Those aren't the outfits we sent ahead to you! Why are the skirts so long and the tops so non-clinging?! This will never do! Those men out there paid to see scantily clad females erotically dancing! Not a bunch of over dressed under developed teenage girls! Though if you put on the string bikini's in your dressing rooms, this could work!'

 **Dustin stretches and says:** Those are venues that I won't take you guys back to. Had I realized what was going on at the time, I'd have canceled the show then and there and nullified their contract with us! **(Realizes the band's school work suddenly seemed familiar and says)** Wait a minute! Your schoolwork from your time on base looked awful familiar to me and now I know why! Your marks were never submitted! They're still sitting on Shockwave's hard drive waiting for submission!

 **Marshall:** How can you plausibly be expected to get to senior year without getting past Freshman,Sophomore and Junior years? Those marks are detrimental to your graduation! How long has Shockwave been sitting on those marks?!

 **Sierra heaves an annoyed sigh and says:** Since I first started the accelerated learning program in sixth grade. Those marks got submitted sure, but the marks for the next four years were never submitted on time, they were either submitted at the deadline or after the deadline date had passed and he remembered he had marks to submit. It takes literally two seconds to open the marks program,enter the grades and comments for the twelve of us then click the submit to server button and it's done. I just don't see why we have to keep getting letters from the Administration declaring our eighth through eleventh grade years void because he never submitted the filled out report cards on time. Sure he's busy but when he's not busy even mom said this, he does NOTHING but read and research instead of getting our damned marks in on time. Which is why we ALL dropped out of his program in the eighth grade and enrolled into mainstream classes, that way our marks got submitted on time to be registered. Thus far my marks are higher than when I had to sit through his watered down version of the same classes. My Calculus mark from Shockwave was a 36, once Terry got his mitts on me it went up to an 86 then mom redeveloped the Accelerated Program and the ones that Shockwave left behind-the lost twelve-were enrolled in that program hence our outfits are different than the other kids in the other Accelerated Programs. But we've graduated THREE years earlier than normal from the accelerated program which frees up a good chunk of my time. Which brings me to Jamie's absence.

 **Dustin:** Yeah where has Jamie been for these past few tours?

 **Marshall sits down and pulls out his computer mouse,mouse pad and his laptop that he turns on and wakes opening the program he'd been working on setting up for Noelle saying:** Jamie and Jed are her stylists and Jamie's on Mat Leave. Jamie had two little girls a few months ago. She had twins and wanted to take time to raise them properly and just let them be kids. Besides, Jed has a nice place that was given to him by his parents to raise a good sized family in, a huge deep backyard with an inground pool and he just recently added a splash pad and playground equipment in the furthest area of the lot but still within eye sight of the newly extended kitchen and sun room. They live way out in the country away from the city and away from neighbors and away from the pesky bylaw officer who likes to put the kaibosh on anything fun like the splash pad he had put in at the end of last summer for his little ones to play in without the fear of them getting into the inground pool without someone in there. They're coming back for the next tour in a few years like once their kids start school and Jamie's parents take over looking after the girls, then they'll come back for my figure skating tours, at least they don't weigh my hair down with straightening products the way other stylists do. **(suddenly hears a rapid succession of pinging coming from her Crystalline Sat Phone and says)** Where the hell were these messages the day he disappeared?

 **Marshall looks up and says:** Not you too! You make the fourth guardian to date who just now got backlogged messages! What's the date on those messages?

 **Sierra scrolls up the list and says:** Every last one of them is dated from my last Hockey game and that was six months ago!

 **Marshall:** SIX MONTHS AGO?!

 **Sierra notices a message attached to the bundle of backlogged messages and says:** What the hell? They were screening the incoming messages without me knowing it? I thought it was a server error and had Blade going through the server's script looking for that error code! Well I know someone who won't be too thrilled about all this. If they thought he was intolerable now, wait until he finds out they've been screening my messages. Wonder what their excuse will be this time around?

 **Dustin:** Who or what are the Grand Guardian Council?

 **Marshall:** A bunch of old cronies who often times have nothing better to do than stick their noses in where they're not wanted. In this case,they've tapped Sierra's Crystalline Satellite Phone's Messaging System and have held up six months worth of messages to 'screen them' for 'potential terroistic threats to the king and queen'. Not that Teddy and Cassidy can't take care of themselves. There's a reason for the sayings 'Don't mess with Teddy or Cassidy as they'll both kill you without ever looking up from their work.'

 **Dustin:** What were you born in as a princess, a palace?

 **Sierra lightly chuckles saying:** No, even though my father has a legal claim to one, he doesn't want one. He grew up in a Palace and hated every minute of it, so once he married he built a huge mansion type cottage way out in the country on a prime piece of realestate with fertile land backing into a grove of trees that lead into his private garden. Everything over the little foot bridge to the west is for the village,everything beyond the backyard to the East and South is for us to eat out of. I had the entire Marsian Countryside as my back yard to play in. I lived in a mansion up on a hill that backed onto a lush meadow surrounded by the crystalline forest. My bedroom that I shared with my brother Axel looked out onto the meadow where we played as children until we were eight and separated. He was beaten within an inch of his life then dumped in Darren's black berry patch, grandfather took me to Egypt to a friend of his,Pharaoh Aknemkanen,Atem's father who decided it would be safer if his most trusted advisor, Mahad, raised me as his own. By at least three I had mastered my Chameleon magic and could make myself look human. Though I shouldn't have even gone anywhere due to a miserably stubborn cold that didn't want to leave, I was moved for safety. Fairy Hunters don't care if you're sick or not. When they get a special mark, they go for it. However since Mahad raised me as a sister to Atem, the hunters were out of luck for getting their hands on my magic. **(Fires off a message to her grandfather's crystalline sattellite phone and says)** Prepare for the doors to the guardian realm to rattle, all hell's out for recess.

 **Dustin:** Ooh boy, I think I'll just plug my ears for a few hours.

 **Sierra:** Oh no, not a few hours, how about a few DAYS?!

 **Dustin:** A few days? It lasts that long?

 **Marshall:** Probably maybe even longer,it just started so be prepared for backlash from the Grand Guardian Council about how they were just trying to protect his and her majesties and the two young highnesses that are just now coming of age. **(Hears a high pitched screech and says)** What is making that noise? It's hurting my ears!

 **Sierra pulls out her Crystal Sat Phone and says:** I thought this screeching problem was fixed ages ago! Looks like Northwind's on the way down the hill **(Hears a banging on the bus doors and says)** Right on time.

**Dustin goes up to the driver's seat and opens the door to allow Northwind with an unconscious Ludwig on his back to board the bus**

**Northwind boards the bus and says:** Where do you want me to put this guy? He passed out and is burning up with a high fever. Oh here's his bag of clothes. ( **Sets the satchel on the table and says)** Is there a bed ready for this poor guy?

 **Dustin scoots around Northwind and says:** Yeah, just follow me and I'll show you where to put him. **(Heads towards the back of the bus to the private room and says)** You can put him here to rest. From the looks of his face, he won't be waking any time soon.

 **Marshall looks up from his laptop's screen,stretches then stands and says:** I'll go tend to what's his name.

 **Sierra:** It isn't what's his name, it's Ludwig.

 **Marshall:** Right, I'll go back and tend to Ludwig then. Which reminds me, how are you planning on getting him back to the Medward without Terry knowing about it? You keep him in the dark too long and he'll never forgive you when he does find out.

 **Sierra:** That was taken care of when I got the message Northwind had found Ludwig. Terry's back on base tending to another influx of wounded soldiers, so I'm gonna take him to where I live in Anaheim until Terry can be reached.

 **Marshall:** An ice rink? You're going to take that poor guy who was just released from a long stint in captivity, to a Hockey Game?

 **Sierra:** No, I haven't live at the Pond in ages and no he's not going to the Pond, I'll be taking him to Anaheim Memorial where Doctor Baitmore is willing to take care of him until he's on his feet again for a nominal fee, he's not doing this for free. I had to pay for Ludwig's private room, medical care and bills,though I will hopefully be reimbursed by Mike as soon as we meet face to face,right now all he knows me by is my voice,a few text messages and the check I cut him for Ludwig's private room. He needs Medical Attention that Tanya can't give him right now, neither can Terrence and neither can I as I'm not fully trained or vetted yet. I don't think a hockey game would be so bad, he's never had the chance to see my friends or my team play. He's always working and Terry doesn't exactly have any means of getting the hockey games on tv let alone a tv in the medward. 

 **Marshall slaps his forehead with his hand saying:** Oh that's right! You moved out three years ago and into our condo. I keep forgetting I helped you move out.

 **Sierra:** I gave my old room to Cassandar so she could have somewhere to call her own. 

 **Marshall:** Don't tell me Phil asked  _where_ and  _when_ you two did it

 **Sierra:** Of course but Madison simply shut it down saying it was NOHB, None Of His Business where Rocky and I consumated our marriage. It was done during a time when no one knew if we'd be returning home or if we'd be frozen in time like so many other teams before us. After that  _lovely_ conversation, I went to my room and finished packing everything to move into the condo laughing so hard Madison had to finish most of the packing. We both agreed he needed a girlfriend badly if he wanted to know the particulars of where my kids were concieved. 

 **Northwind comes back out from depositing Ludwig on the bed that had been set up for him and says:** I have to return to the venue to do clean up detail. Your friend is resting in the bed with an ice pack on his head and it's doubtful he's going to awaken anytime soon, as his fever reads above the hundred degree mark and his chest is terribly congested .

 **Sierra:** Thank you Northwind. Ludwig will be taken very well care of in Anaheim, a Doctor is waiting on our arrival to start and lower Ludwig's fever and keep an infection from starting.

**Northwind disembarks the bus and heads back up the hill to finish his clean up**

**Dustin comes back out of the private room where Ludwig was resting and allows Marshall inside then shuts the door and heads up to the driver's seat,sits down, buckles up and starts the bus,takes it out of park putting it into drive and heads down the hidden back road on his way to Anaheim.**

**An hour later**

**Marshall comes out with a file on Ludwig and sits back down at the table where Sierra was working on digitally coloring the scanned in layout sheets saying:** A hundred and four degree fever,congested chest and not even lucid enough to give me anything beyond what I already know.

 **Sierra without looking away from her shading screen,reaches into the satchel with Ludwig's clothes in it and pulls out his wallet saying:** This might be of some use to you. He's been back to Chicago once to get his identification updated. It was years ago when I decided I'd had enough of living on Mars and wanted to go back to Chicago. He decided to ask if he could tag along and find out if his old house still stood empty. It was still standing and still empty, he picked up a few things he needed to get ID issued at various places and I went to my place giving him my cell number to call when he was ready to go back to Mars. By the way, your grand kid's kicking up a storm tonight.

 **Marshall takes Ludwig's wallet from Sierra's hand saying:**  Good luck going to sleep tonight if that's the case! How many nights will this make that you haven't slept?

 **Sierra:** Just tonight, mainly because dad's not laying beside me in bed with his tail draped over my stomach.

 **Marshall:** Ah, it's gonna be a girl! You were were like that five thousand years ago. By the way, does grandpa Mahad know he's going to be a grandpa again?

 **Sierra:** Haven't you ever noticed the Palladium Oracle Card Atem gave me acting weird?

 **Marshall:** I knew it, he knows. That's his way of saying he's waiting for the birth to happen. Perfect! Everything I need to know is in his wallet! **(Pulls out the birth certificate accidentally pulling out his red I.C.E Card and says)**  Great just the card I need!

 **Sierra:** The red ICE Card once you swipe it, will alert uncle Terry that Ludwig's been found if he's near his laptop, if not then it'll send out an SMS to his phone that basically says 'missing person has been found, they can be located at such and such a place.' Nine times out of ten he's NOT going to leave Base again to head here to Earth. Not after what he went through for that length of time, but then again who am I to say what Terry will or won't do? With my track record the way it is right now, I'm better off not saying anything because I can easily get into trouble with him like I have in the past, which is why there are times he doesn't trust me. **(Notices how late it was then says)** I can't believe it's well past midnight.

 **Marshall glances at the clock and says:**  It all boils down to the fact that he sees you as a teenager still, his mind hasn't caught up to the fact you're twenty two. Give him some time to process it. So it is, you still have medicine to take so it's off to bed for you. This stuff is potent and powerful enough to knock you out where ever you are for the night. Hold out your hand and I'll give you your pills for tonight. **(Pulls out a pill bottle from his jacket pocket,pops the lid off it and dumps the pills into Sierra's palm then hands her a bottle of water saying)** Drain the whole bottle then off to bed.

 **Sierra takes the bottle of water from her dad's hand,twists open the cap that she sat on the table,popped the entire handful of pills into her mouth then drained the bottle of water until it was empty and tossed the empty bottle into the recycle bin,got up and headed to the back towards the bunks where she opened the door to the girls bunk,shut it behind her and began to get ready for bed,then hopped up into the top bunk reaching under the pillow and pulled out her ipad and foldable keyboard and wakes it double taping on the journal icon and picked a new page to begin her entry for that day until the medicine she'd just taken an hour earlier started taking effect and she stopped writing and saved thinking with a sigh:** _What is it this time that I've done to Terry to make him loose his trust and faith in me? Does he think that I've stolen something? Have I recently lied to him? Could it be that he still blames me for his six guardian years in captivity as Corrin's prisoner? I just can't put my finger on it but something's changed about him that I can't figure out._ **(Remembers the letter that was in her sketch book and thinks) I wonder what it was that he wrote in that letter he slipped into my sketch book? It must be important enough to warrant him writing to me. The only times he ever writes to me are when I've blown it big time. Did I do something to get him mad at me lately? (Goes back in her thoughts and thinks)** _No, I haven't gotten yelled at as of late, but his trust in me seems to have plummeted in the last few days. Does he blame me for being held captive for so long? Could it be that he sees me as the reason it took so long for someone to find and set him free from that house? I certainly knew nothing of his long stint in captivity, had I known he was in the main house, I'd have called Northwind to help me free him the first week._ **(Reaches into her back pack and pulls out her sketch book and removes the unopened letter returning the sketch book to her bag,then opens the envelope to remove the letter that she nearly drops thinking)** _Whoa, a hand written letter in Terry's handwriting! Something I've never gotten from him before!_ **(Begins to read the letter until the last page was read and her pills kicked in as she sleepily thought)** _Ahh it's a warning letter, are they freaking serious? Terrenceran's been dead longer than I've been alive in this mortal body and besides the point, they wouldn't get five feet near him even if they tried as he's under Royal Guardian Protection! The protective barrier around him when he goes out is enough to kill a mortal person._ **(Gathers up all the papers putting them in numerical order then puts them back into the envelope tucking it under her pillow,reaches up to turn off the light above her head,picks up her phone, taps the alarm feature and sets it for ten o'clock then ensures the alarm will go off the sets it on the little shelf next to her bed and lays down falling asleep until the early the next morning when they finally pulled into the Emergency Entrance of Anaheim Memorial when she woke up,got dressed in clean clothes, brushed out her hair shoving it away from her face with a hair band,left her sleeping area, grabbed her oversized umbrella, and headed to the front of the bus where she disembarked, headed into the Emergency Department closing her umbrella and shaking it out before heading up to the receptionist desk where she polietly asked for Mike Baitmore ten minutes later a very confused Mike Baitmore came out)**

 **Mike speaks to the Receptionist saying:** Who wants me Sasha? I was on my way to my lunch

 **Sasha sets Mike's doctor's bag on the counter and says:** Sierra's in the waitin room waitin on you. The girl with the friend who's seriously sick on her tour bus parked out front. She called you several times.

 **Mike:** Sierra? **(Tries to recall the curt phone call from several days ago and says)** Sorry still not ringing any bells. I've been so busy I haven't had time to think about anything except the patients I've been seeing here and at my clinic. **(Mutters to himself)** _Sierra...Sierra....it's familiar but I'm still not placing her name._ **(Feels the unopened envelope in his labcoat pocket and pulls it out to open it and began reading the letter ending by muttering)** _Enclosed is the required check you asked for to secure my friend's private floor and room. We can work out the rest once I arrive. Huh,_ **(Suddenly remembers a phone call and says)** Oh of course! Sierra called to secure the private wing for her friend! What waiting room is she in Sasha?

 **Sasha:** Right around the corner Mike, long black hair shoved back in a blue hair band wearing the black shoes,purple maternity jeans,light blue tshirt,coral jean jacket and red cap on her head with the sunglasses perched ontop.

 **Mike heads out around the corner and says:** Sierra?

 **Sierra looks up,sets the magazine aside then stand up,picks up and puts her hat and sunglasses back on then stands up saying:** That's me

 **Mike:** A-a bit younger than I had originally thought you would be based on your voice over the phone. Where's the paitent in question that needs medical attention?

 **Sierra:** Sleeping on my bus in the sleeping area.

 **Mike:** Where's your bus?

 **Sierra:** Sitting in the parking lot

 **Sasha:** Since you're going out to check a sick paitent, you'll need your medic bag! Shannon took a call here and left it behind.

 **Mike picks up his doctor's bag and says:** She'd forget her head if it wasn't for her shoulders. If Andrea, Clint or my wife come looking for me, I'm out with Sierra and will be back in no more than an hour tops if not more depending on how sick this person really is. Though, I sort of have my doubts about this. I just can't put my finger on what it is that's bothering me, but I feel like this is all, I don't know,a joke or a made for tv hoax to waste my time. I'll be pissed to the max if that's what this turns out to be and I'll ensure she never shows her face around here again. Have Security on stand by for me will you? Just incase this isn't what it seems to be and I need help.

 **Sasha picks up the phone and dials Security and says when answered:** This is Sasha from Reception, Doctor Baitmore is heading out to the parking lot to an emergency call, he has a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach about this and would like you to be on stand by just incase he needs your assistance. Of course thank you. **(Hangs up saying)** Security's on stand by right now and on high alert just incase you need assistance.

 **Mike:** Thanks Sasha, I feel a bit better knowing I have Security on standby. **(Heads back to the waiting room and says)** I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long, I was uhh asked to do a quick consult for another doctor. Alright then I'll follow you to where ever your bus is located.

 **Sierra:** Well then follow me. It's the purple and black bus with the gold flecks in the paint job with my name written on it. **(Heads out of the emergency room doors and across the parking lot with Mike in tow until they came to her bus where she banged on the door to signal she was back for Dustin to open the door and boarded with Mike behind her until she stopped outside Ludwig's room and says)** He's in there sleeping,my tour medic's done what he can in terms of making Ludwig comfortable. **(Allows Mike to enter then waits as Dustin closes the door and heads back to the front of the bus,pulls out her laptop and mouse then opens the lid and wakes it to finish working on digitally coloring the panels she'd been working on the previous night while she waited for Mike to return)**

**Three hours later someone bangs on the tour bus doors**

**Sierra gets up and heads to the front of the bus opening the door saying:** Yes?

 **Clint:** Mike come out here?

 **Sierra looks back to see Mike coming forward and says:** He's right here. He came to help a friend of mine.

 **Mike looks out the doors and says:** Clint? What's the problem? I've been tending to a very sick paitent back here.

 **Sierra steps aside and says:** Why not come onboard instead of standing in the parking lot in the pouring rain?

 **Clint followed by his wife and Mike's wife climb on board as he says:** One of your maternity patients, Melissa called in, she's in labor, contractions are two minutes apart and baby's on the way. Should be here in twenty minutes traffic pending

 **Mike:** Oh right Melissa, I told her to come straight here and avoid the EMS at all costs.

 **Sierra:** Never call the EMS when you're in labor, they'll stall as long as they can before actually taking you to the hospital. Standard Proceedure is they'll ask who's the father? what does he do? where is he now? when is the baby due? why aren't you heading to the hospital now? How many other children do you have? Do you mind if we just take a look and see if you're dialated? If so then we need to make a determination if we can get you to the hospital.

 **Clint:** Yeah that's them to a T! Sammy had a helluva time with her last little one. They fooled around instead of loading her directly into the Ambulance and bringing her straight here. It was a half hour before they brought her in and by that time we had to rush her into surgery to do an emergency C-section to save both Sammy and the baby because they stalled so long. Thankfully Sammy and the baby survived but the EMS Workers were out of a job that day. When a woman calls in for another woman going into labor, you don't stall or take the long way to the hospital, you go the shortest route to get her there as fast as possible. But not these guys, they asked her fifty million questions, went through her pregnancy medications asked what the pink pill was for how many times a day she took it who prescribed it and why she was taking it.

 **Sierra:** Pink pill? A Pepto tablet? That's a pregnant woman's best friend, pregnancy nausea isn't fun no kind of nausea is fun. I've had my promoters calling me saying "Hey we know your sick but you _HAVE_ to do this talk show! They've been calling us all week to book you and we've booked you back to back gigs. So get up,get showered and get dressed! Here's the address of the studio and the floor they're taping the show on! They'll be expecting you in two hours!' Yeah two hours later I'm still puking into a puke bucket and the tv producer's calling my phone saying "hey you're supposed to be here by now, what's taking you so long?' Then I just turned and puked into the bucket then told them that I wasn't able to go anywhere because I was sick to my stomach. They apologized and called my promoters and reamed them a new one about dragging someone who is sick out of bed and that their segment could wait for a day when I was feeling better despite what the Hosts wanted. A person who is sick needs time to get over whatever they've contracted. But at the time I wasn't battling a virus, I was battling food poisoning stemming from some bad diner food we'd eaten the night before. This was two or three years before Dustin took over as Tour Manager, our Tour Manager at the time was a low life of a guy named Duggin, he didn't like spending money and we always wound up at campgrounds that were less than savory and had to eat at diners that had a yellow rating but Duggin didn't care, as long as the price was under $80 per person he was happy.

 **Mike:** The only place that you plausibly take a band of twelve people to eat for under eighty bucks is oh god I wouldn't take my dog there! Was it Tashmoo's All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet?

 **Sierra:** Yeah that was the only place Duggin would take us for lunch and supper. We all got sick and seven of us wound up in the hospital with accute food poisoning,two of the boys had no symptoms I swear they could eat garbage and not get sick and three of us were in bed for days on medications to combat the poisoning. Shortly after we returned home to Mars, I got even sicker and wound up under my dads constant care because I was too sick to go home after two days I thoroughly emptied my stomach of any and all food with one big upheaval. After that I went through a fasting test to see if the food poisoning had run it's course and thank the stars it had run it's course. Once I was back on my feet, I cleaned house big time. Duggin's was canned as Tour Manager, his brother as Tour Medic and his lazy assed sister as my Go Betweener and that boorish brainless husband of hers was also canned as security. I was approached by Dustin's dad when he heard I needed a whole new Touring Staff and reccomended Dustin who had just finished getting his Management Degree and had a license to actually drive a tour bus. Hell he didn't have to apply to become the tour manager, his dad made him tour manager then we got Shayla as the tour medic then she got married and brought her bone headed husband on as tour security which was a joke then after the last tour was done, Shayla and bone head left so Shayla could have their baby and that's when my dad decided to come on board. The Medic's Office/Living Space was a complete disaster zone that took us three full days to thoroughly clean. The bed had to go as it was beyond saving, the small dresser was destroyed because they screwed on it, the computer desk was trashed.

 **Shannon looks around and says:** How can a teenager afford this luxurious of a tour bus? It must cost a fortune to keep up!

 **Andrea gives Sierra a once over saying:** Not to mention you can't be more than thirteen years old. Who teaches you on the road or do you even do any studies?

 **Sierra stretches saying:** Oh how sweet! You think I'm a teenager? Wow haven't been called that in three years! I'm twenty-one and have four kids: two boys two girls who are at home with their dad. My tour manager has an updated teaching license so when on the road he taugt me and eleven others when we're not on the road we went to school full time. Besides, this bus? It's not yet mine, I'm still paying on it out of Royalties from Concerts. I have eighty-seven more payments on this bus before it's actually mine. 

 **Shannon:** Excuse me? Went to school? What are you a bunch of delinquent drop outs uninterested in furthering your education? Eighty-seven more payments? Where did this come from?

 **Sierra:** I've been done school since I was fifteen and graduated from an accelerated condensed High School Program. My tour manager's dad. I'm paying  _him_ for this bus and at least  _six or seven_ other tour buses I use. Payments for this bus aren't cheap either at fifty six grand a month coming off my checks from tours,personal appearances,tv appearances and merchandise. Not to mention that along with paying for this bus, I agreed to keep it up to date with safety checks,keep it mechanically sound,no accidents,no traffic violations and I have to keep it clean from front to back and bottom to top inside and out. If I fail on any of those conditions, Domino takes back the bus and my band is royally screwed to get around. The same goes for the plane we rent to fly to our overseas concert dates, the rental price for  _that_ is astronomical,we have to behave ourselves otherwise Domino will shut down the tour schedule,take back the bus,car services,security details and the bus. Thus far we've been  _really_ _really really really_ good. I guess we've been so good and he's gotten nothing but glowing behavior reports and is pleased with the condition this bus is in that he's knocked off three hundred payments so now I'm down to eighty seven. My band and I grew up together, we're all in our twenties except for one who just turned ninteen. Like I just said I'm twenty one and a mom to four kids already and expecting another one.

 **Shannon becomes embarassed saying:** Oh I'm so sorry. I had no idea you had finished high school already. I just assumed you had dropped out to focus on your music.

 **Sierra:**  No,went through an accelerated condensed program. No fillers,no projects,no term papers,no unnecessary presentations on materials we haven't covered yet none of the things you'd find in a regular High School. We graduated the program when we were fifteen to free up our time to do what we wanted, we mostly just studied subjects that weren't being taught in a standard class room settings like Mythology,Egyptology you know subjects that are considered to be too 'risky' to be taught in normal school. 

 **Shannon notices a cast on Sierra's left arm and says:** What happened here?

 **Sierra:** I took a wrong step off the bus getting off and broke my arm. It still hasn't healed. This is pressure cast number two. Another eight weeks of no hockey,figure skating, gymnastics, weight training or dance classes followed by six weeks of intense physio therapy to strengthen my arm again. No worries, it hapened before this one was even thought of. Doesn't affect the quality of my child care though Social Services have been to my condo more than once for 'Home Visits' because a concerned parent called in claiming my four older kids don't go to school. Of  _course_ they go to school, they go to full day Kindergarten five days a week instead of Nursery School and Day Care

 **Andrea slowly scans Sierra and says:**  So Nursery School Monday,Wednesday and Friday mornings, Day Care Tuesday and Thursdays all day calls for the CPS to be involved why exactly?

 **Sierra:** Well it all goes back to when the Nursery School my kids attend had a flood and was closed for two months

Wait a minute, I know you from somewhere.... your fur color is a few shades darker than someone our grand kids hung out with. Does your dad have a metal arm?

 **Sierra** : No, sorry. My dad's North Point Base's First Gardener and Master Herbologist and Master Botanist. My family single handedly revived North Point Base's garden that had been badly neglected. We live in the Gardener Family Quarters that way we can tend to the Garden and prevent it from becoming overgrown again. oth my parents have green thumbs and are awesome at gardening. Thus far we've managed to have a huge bumper crop of fruits and vegetables saving the base's boss a huge chunk of change to put towards other things that need to be done.

 **Andrea:** Oh I must be thinking of another girl who looks like you then.

 **Clint:** So wait a minute, you're listed as Sierra but everyone calls you what, Starlight?

 **Sierra:** I have two first names yes Sierra Starlight ,with everyone calling me Sierra and me using Starlight as my stage name.

 **Andrea:** I had a feeling you were familiar to me but I couldn't figure out where I'd seen you before! **(Reaches into her labcoat and pulls out her great grand daughter's birthday present saying)** Now I know where I've seen you before! **(Turns the CD around saying)** Right here on the latest Seira CD Relased late last night!

 **Sierra takes a look at the picture on the front CD Jacket and says:** Ehh no that's not my CD. I spell my name S-i-e-r-r-a not S-e-i-r-a. If you want my latest CD, give me two minutes to go get one out of storage, I think I have some left over from my last tour that I canceled due to illness. **(Heads back to the storage closet and pulls out a gift box and several posters saying)** Ahah! I knew I had a deluxe gift box left over. **(Heads to the table and pulls out her sparkly purple ink pen saying)** Whose it for anyways and I can autograph the things that are in here.

 **Andrea:** Oh it's for Alexis Baitmore, Kristin's daughter will be the same age as you tomorrow.

 **Sierra uncaps her pen and begins signing the contents of the deluxe gift box saying:** She'll be sixteen tomorrow?

 **Andrea:** Wait what? No, Alexis will be thirteen! You look younger than sixteen! I thought _you_ were thirteen!

 **Sierra:** Hmm I'm often mistaken for being eight and often asked where my mommy and daddy are.

 **Shannon looks up and sees Mike coming out of the sleeping area and says:** What's your verdict hon?

 **Mike sits down and sighs saying:** He most definitly needs to be admitted to the hospital. He has a deep wet cough,a high grade fever with an infection starting to show up,sky high blood pressure,he's struggling to get air into and out of his chest. Until he wakes up on his own, he'll have a catheter inserted then a tube and a colostomy bag to relieve the pressure on his bladder. There's no other choice but to admit him into the private wing of the ICU where he can rest and be properly looked after. I'll go get a stretcher for him and get the paperwork started. All this should be covered under his health insurance plan. For now, someone needs to get him ready to be transfered from the bed he's in, to a stretcher so I can get him into the hospital and up to the private wing then into the private room of the ICU so he can start healing. **(Stands up and heads to the front of the bus where he disembarks to go get a stretcher for Ludwig's transfer along with some paperwork that would need to be filled out)**

 **Sierra finishes signing the last item a birthday card then places the lid back on it replacing the ribbon diagonally across the top of the box then starts unravelling a poster enough to sign it and several others then rerolls the posters slipping a purple stretchy ribbon around all six posters then stands up and hands the box and posters to Andrea saying:** Here we go, one personally autographed deluxe Starlight gift box set with a few extra perks inside and six personallly autographed posters left over from my last concert that was cancelled due to the entire band being sick and me having my second set of twins.

 **Andrea takes the box and posters from Sierra and says:** You've just made one die hard soon to be thirteen year old girl a happy camper. I guess I'll just have to return that Seira CD to the store I got it from. They have Seira stuff filed under your label.

 **Sierra:** Seira and I are on different recording labels and on completly different tour circuits. We rarely if ever see eachother, if I'm in Alabama, she's in Missouri. She's good but not on the same level as I am,she's just starting out. **(Notices Mike had come back out with a stretcher and says)** Looks like we'll have to use the back exit to this bus to get Ludwig out as he's in no condition to get up on his feet. **(Heads to the very back of bus to the hidden back exit to which she opened the doors to lowering the ramp saying)** Come on back aboard this way, it'll take you directly to where he's sleeping.

 **Mike boards the bus again with two paramedics pulling the stretcher behind him saying:** Just a bit of paper work that needs to be finished on him unless it's all been done already. I'll just head off to his room and get him on the stretcher then off to the private wing and into his private room. He's this way boys. **(Heads off towards Ludwig's room with the paramedics behind him and disappears inside then reappears a few minutes later saying)** Alright I got the updated paperwork off of his desk and everything else as well from whom ever was looking after him so we'll go ahead and take him into the hospital, up to the private wing and get him settled into the private room so he can be hooked up to iv's of medication and fluids and have an oxygen mask put on so he can breathe properly. He's developed a bronchial infection that is making it hard for him to breathe. From the sounds of things, his lungs are soaking wet and need to dry out a bit so there'll be steam therapy to dry out his lungs to a safe spot. **(Steps out of the way of the paramedics and the stretcher saying)** I'll keep the check you cut incase his insurance doesn't cover this, though from his insurance forms, it looks like everything about his hospital stay is covered. Give me about an hour, hour and a half to get him settled in then you can come up to the private wing to his room and see him before I guess you have to get going to where ever you're going.

**Suddenly everyone's pagers start going off and they all disembark Sierra's tour bus to head into the hospital in various directions leaving Sierra to go back to planning the next chapter of the book she was working on well past the one hour mark her cell phone's messaging app chimed with a message simply stating that Ludwig was settled into his private room and it was safe for her to go see him before going home and something would be waiting for her inside the bedside table drawer.**

**Saving her work, Sierra stretched,stood up and left the schooling area of the bus and disembarked heading directly across the parking lot and into the hospital heading down the hall to the elevators that she took up to the ICU area of the hospital and hung a right past the ICU Nurse's station and headed directly through the double doors hanging a left until she came to the private wing with the only private room in the area.**

**Walking into Ludwig's private room Sierra walked directly over to his bedside where for the first time she seen how red his face was from the fever he was battling and picked up his chart to read it**

**Sierra reads Ludwig's medical chart muttering:** _Chest and bronchial airways congested, severe high grade fever, infection of chest, wet raspy cough, high blood pressure from untreated fever. Have decided to put patient into a medically induced coma to allow his body and immune system a fighting chance to heal until then there is no chance of patient waking for a solid three to six months? Started a fever reducing drip at high dose to bring down fever combined with antibiotics for infection along with flovent and ventolin to help open airways. We have taken the decisive step to put him into a medically induced coma to allow his body to slowly recover without catastrophic organ shutdown and failure. Wow poor guy's been through hell these past six months, I'd have at least thought that when he started getting sick they'd have used their heads for more than hat racks and let him go get medical attention instead of forcing him to suffer through illness. Don't worry, someone will make them pay for what they did to you someone of a higher authority than the guardians. You rest and continue your medicated fight and before too long you'll wake up and be ready to go home to Mars._ **(Hangs the medical chart back on the foot of the bed then opens the side table's drawer to find a letter wrapped around an envelope addressed to her and picks it up out of the drawer closing it and unfolding the letter to read it muttering)** _Ludwig's Emergency Medical Insurance has covered the entire cost of his stay and treatment, you can void this check as it is not necessary anymore. Terribly sorry for doubting the validity of your concern for your friend, I had my doubts for a long while about the authenticity of what you told me over the phone, the uncertainty of his medical insurance covering his stay is the reason I insisted upon you writing a check. By the way, thank you for autographing that deluxe gift set for my great grand daughter. I'm certained she'll love it. If you're not busy, it would REALLY make her birthday if you Sierra showed up in person as Starlight, that is if you have the time in your schedule to do so. If so then listed below is the address of where to show up, if not then the deluxe gift set will make her happier than a June bug in July. Hmm well lemme see if I do have time in my schedule to show up._ **(Pulls out her schedule and sees an opening and inputs 'birthday party' into her schedule for the next day and hits the book button muttering)** _Don't you freaking well dare come back and tell me I can't do this birthday party because of a last minute booking for a talk show!_ **(Watches as conflict of schedule due to previous talk show appearance booking dialog showed up and immediately hit the cancel talk show appearance button muttering)** Why the hell should I have to put in an appearance on so many damned talk shows that make me wait until the last twenty minutes of their show to come on? That's it, I'm calling Mitchell on this. I'm not gonna do another damned talk show! **(Dials Mitchell's cell number and says)** We've got booking problems,someone's circumvented the blocking program that prevents me from being booked onto any talk shows after last year's debacucle,the fan site on the band's website is acting up, I've gotten four messages from little tykes wanting to say happy birthday to Brianna but someone somehow rewrote the code and now any fan wanting to wish anyone in the band with a birthday a happy birthday, needs a master login name and password. They get three tries for the login code and password before the rogue code sends the website into complete and total lock down.  I'm not interested in Talk Shows, I was so over it when I was pregnant with the last set of twins. 

 **Mitchell looks at his screen and says:** Yeah someone went around me and booked you on every single damned morning and afternoon talk show **.** Oh I know, you'd have thought they'd never seen a pregnant woman before in their lives.The question of how you came to have twins was the most ridiculous question I had ever heard! If a person is a twin and marries a twin, they're gonna have TWINS! Yeesh even I know that! Orion and Nebula are twins and they have four sets of twins themselves. **(Hovers his mouse over the entire week of talk show bookings and deletes them then opens the coding window and permanetly blocks any future talk show bookings then says)** Well I've fixed your talk show booking problem by deleting them and placing a do not book on any talk show program message on your schedule as for the birthday party, you're booked in for that day. What ever fan you're surprising will be ecstatic that you took the time out of your schedule to appear at their birthday. **(Hears his call waiting signal and says)** Yeah I've noticed that rogue code sending the website into totalitarian lockdown and I'm pissed as is Blade who is currently deleting the rogue hacker code. Look as much as I'd love to chat more, I can't I have to go, I've got Blade calling on the other line. But I will call you back and see if we can't work that bug out of your webpage's fan section. Maybe they've figured out why the fan section won't load. **(Hangs up with Sierra to switch to his incoming call)**

 **Sierra stares at her phone thinking:** _If people would just trust me when I say the webpage pro's are working on it, then they can upload to their hearts content._ **(Notices the unread message icon in the upper right of her phone screen and tapped it to open and read it thinking)** _Uh-oh times a million, Terry found out Ludwig's been found and hospitalized. No don't tell me he's on his way here to reame me a new one about secrets!_ **(Reads the message further and thinks)** _Aww crapshoot! He's on his way in a really rotten mood! *sigh* What was I supposed to do when he's busy? Wait for another six months for an opening to tell him Ludwig's been found? With the way casualties have been pouring in, it'd be more like six years before I got the chance and the poor guy would be dead from illness. Hopefully someone will at least let him know that I did the right thing and brought him here to get medical help._ **(Hears the door to Ludwig's private room open and watches as Terrence walked right by her to Ludwig's bedside)**

 **Terrence in a very angry tone of voice to the Orderly:** When the hell were you going to tell me he was here? Next year?

 **Orderly:** I was instructed to keep his presence here a secret. No one was supposed to know about it especially not your daughter here.

 **Sierra:**  I'm his niece not his daughter! I'm the one who paid to have this entire wing built thank you very much. I said to keep him out of the _MEDIA_ and the _PRESS_ , not away from our boss. Get it right next time! You can leave now, you're presence here isn't needed. **(Watches as the bumbling Orderly left the room and says)** He's mighty sick Terry, Northwind said his clothes were so wet they were stuck to him.

 **Terrence brushes Ludwig's hair away from his closed eyes and says:** What in the living hell did they do to him all this time?

 **Sierra:** From what Medley tells me, they tied him to a chair and put a tip bucket full of ice cold water over his head with a short rope tied around his neck that dumped the bucket of water down over him everytime he nodded off and had him situated directly under the airconditioning unit that they turned to polar air. His chest is congested,he's developed bronchitis and a bad lung infection that they're treating with a combination of flovent and ventolin for the bronchitis,extremley strong antibiotics for the infection, they put him in a medically induced coma to help his body relax and recover. Right now he's breathing pure oxygen to help keep his body oxygenated and prevent catastrophic organ shut down. Everything is written in his chart at the foot of his bed.

 **Terrence removes the clipboard from the foot of Ludwig's bed and reads through the information muttering:** _Chest and bronchial airways congested,severe high grade fever, infection of chest, wet raspy cough, high blood pressure from untreated fever. Started a fever reducing drip at high dose to bring down fever combined with antibiotics for infection along with flovent and ventolin to help open airways. We have taken the decisive step to put him into a medically induced coma to allow his body and immune system a fighting chance to heal until then there is no chance of patient waking for a solid three to six months to slowly recover without catastrophic organ shutdown and failure._ **(Continues reading through everything else then says)** There's no safe way for me to move him home to Mars, not in this condition. He'll have to stay here but at least he's in a private room in a private wing on a private floor. He'll have around the clock attention until he wakes up. Right now he's in a medically enduced coma to allow his body the time to heal. Why didn't he call you to come back for him? He doesn't know how the transporter works.

 **Sierra sits in the chair next to the door and rubs her temples saying:** The old biddies on the Grand Council intercepted all my messages,voice mails and phone calls for the last six months and lets just say a certain someone wasn't all that happy about it either. If I had known ahead of time he was coming with me, I'd have waited. Hockey games with out of towners rarely if ever start on time, they're usually a half hour late getting to the pond to get changed and ready to go out on the ice. The last game I was at, the out of town team was stuck in a monsterous traffic jam and were trying to find another route to the pond. I didn't get my messages until last night while waiting for Northwind to find Ludwig and bring him to the bus. My Crystalline Satellite Phone is STILL pinging with messages that were withheld for months without me knowing it. It's gotten to the point where I've had to transfer the backlogged messages to other phones with more data available. At this rate, I'm afraid to see the next cell phone bill when it comes in the mail. It'll be a nightmare somewhere in the range of a couple thousand dollars. I just got through paying off the last four hundred dollars from my last phone bill and now the Grand Guardian Council goes and pulls this latest stunt. Ay yi yi, I'm a dead duck, there goes all the baby sitting bonuses I've saved up. That money will be going towards completley paying off this phone bill.

 **Terrence:** How did they get your mortal world cell phone number anyways if it's unlisted?

 **Sierra:** I don't know, how do they manage to do anything and screw it up?

 **Terrence:** I'd rather not think of how they manage to do anything and screw it up.

 **Sierra heaves a yawn,stretches and says:** By the way, if you're coming to dinner tonight, I've found Lilly-Belle. Someone dropped her off at my apartment in Jewel Tower,she's been waiting for her owner to come get her and take her home before my daughters decide she's their dog.

 **Terrence:** I'll tell Bryce that Lilly-Belle's been found, he'll be relieved. The 'trainer' lost her somewhere in the construction zone,she's still young,skittish and scares easily. Oh-ho no! They  _have_ a dog of their own, they don't need Lilly-Belle! Besides, I doubt Bryce will let them have his dog. His daughter misses her. Where  _are_ your rug rats?

 **Sierra:**  Terrorizing Mahad in the past. Giving Grandpa Mahad a taste of what it's like to raise four kids the same age. I'll probably hear about it when I go home. It was his idea to meet his grandkids and spend time with them, so Jet took them back and dumped them on him. Makes me wonder if he's cried foul yet and asked their great grandfather to help him. What Lilly-Belle needs is to be micro-chipped,scanned and entered into a data base, that way if this happens again and she isn't turned over to me, someone can turn her into a Veternairy Clinic with Micro-Chip Technology where they'll scan her chip and Bryce's Information will come up including his cell phone number and email address. The Vet will either call him,send him an alert or drop him an email saying 'Lilly-Belle has been dropped off at this address,she's safe,has been checked over and is being fed in a cage until your arrival.' Rachet can do it, he's the new guy who was a Vet before the war started. He's got the tech gadgets to micro-chip Lilly-Belle and any other animals that require micro-chipping. **(Stands,opens the door saying)** Since my band's taking time off the road, I'm going home to go to bed for a nap while the condo is quiet! **(heads out into the hall allowing the door to close on her hands and heads to the elevator pushing the down button then steps into the elevator,pushes the parking garage button and waits as the floors go by until she arrived at the parking garage,stepped out and headed back towards her tour bus where she boarded saying)** You can drop me off at Jewel Towers, I'm goin home. There's a certain four legged runaway waiting for me to get her to the groomers for a quick spa treatment.

 **Dustin:** Did you get a chance to talk to your uncle Terry?

 **Sierra:** Yeah he's in with Ludwig's doctor's right now getting ready to go over a plan to combat the lung infection Ludwig's battling from sitting in soaking wet clothes for so long under polar air conditioning cranked to below freezing.

 **Dustin turns around in his seat, buckles his seat belt,lowers the steering wheel colum,starts the bus carefully backing out of the parking spot heading towards the open gate to the freeway heading towards Jewel Towers where Sierra lived saying:** Next stop, Jewel Towers in a half hour, I strongly suggest you go pack your stuff so you can be ready to go when we get to your condo and ensure there's no mess back there from the Paramedics taking Ludwig off the bus. You know as well as I do how my Terry feels about a filthy bus being returned. He's been kind enough to let you use this bus during non touring time, the least you can do is keep it clean back there! I get tired of having to clean up after you time and again! I'm not doing it anymore! You're damned old enough to clean up after yourself when you've made a mess!

 **Sierra heads back to her room,begins packing the small amount of stuff she'd brought with her into her duffel bag then straightens her bedding out, closes the curtains,double checks all the drawers and hiding spots to ensure they were all empty then heads out of her private room shutting and locking the door behind her heading back to the front of the bus but not before pulling out her phone, turning it on and dialing the Dog Spa in the lobby of her Condo Complex then waits until Jannelle answered saying:** Hey Jannelle,it's Sierra. Are either Stacey or Angelica in?

 **Jannelle:** Yeah just a second I'll give you over to Stacey since she's right beside me. **(Hands the phone to Stacey saying)** Sierra's asking for you.

 **Stacey takes the phone and says:** Hi, what can I do you in for?

 **Sierra:** Up in my condo, in my bedroom,in a crate is a certain little lady who needs to be spiffied up for her reunion with my brother. Don't suppose you could give her the top dog package treatment do you? Supper's at seven.

 **Stacey looks at her schedule and says:** You're in luck I have time to go get Lilly-Belle out of the crate and bring her down to the Spa for a Spa treatment. Would you like to do a deep conditioning to her fur and a moisturizer to her skin,paw pads and nose?

 **Sierra:** Absolutley! Her suitcase should be right beside her crate, see if you can pick out an outfit that says 'I missed you Terry'.

 **Stacey:** I have just the outfit in her closet in mind for that. Wait she shirked her leash?

 **Sierra:** Tricia had her on her training harness and she literally shirked her training harness when her phone rang and ran off after me. She's spent the better part of two weeks living at the pond with Dakota looking after her and training her to walk on a lead, come when she's called,go to the washroom when she's told to. Thus far Dakota's no nonsense attitude has worked, she pees and poops on the pad, doesn't throw her food around and no longer splashes her water from her water bowl on the floor. Hopefully she won't shirk the new harness Dakota had her measured for.

 **Stacey books Lilly-Belle into the one to six grooming slot and says:** Alrighty then, I'll go on up to your penthouse,pick up the little lady,bring her to the Salon and start her spaw day to get her ready to be reunited with her master. Door key still at the front desk?

 **Sierra:** Just use the private elevator to go up to my place, it'll take you to the elevator just off the kitchen, Lilly-Belle's crate is just on the other side of the bed, her new harness is located ontop of her rolling closet/suit case. Right now she's probably a little bit peeved about being locked up.

 **Stacey snickers and says:** I don't doubt she is peeved. Well I'll let you go so I can go get her majesty and bring her down for her spa treatment. So you'll be having supper at....Sebastian's tonight?

 **Sierra:** Yep the private back room and patio.

**After Dustin pulled into the parking garage of her building parking the bus in it's spot right across the floor to the elevator,he disembarked with Marshall and disappeared through the guardian door back to Mars leaving Sierra to disembark, shut and lock the tour bus doors before heading to her penthouse and once everything was locked up, she headed to the elevator, pushed the up button, waited for the elevator to come down,then once the doors opened,she got on and pushed the penthouse button and waited a few short minutes for the elevator to arrive inside her penthouse just outside her kitchen and got off opening the door then shutting it behind her as she grabbed the remote for the blinds and pushed the button opening the blinds allowing sunshine in then headed to her bedroom to change out of her clothes into a swim suit and slip on shoes then headed out of her room,and across her living room to her private rooftop pool to lounge on the relciner ignoring the red flashing light on her digital answering machine that clearly displayed her Terry's cell phone number knowing the messages were still being transfered to the phone with the largest data plan.**

**After lounging by her private pool until chased indoors by a thunderstorm, Sierra decided it was time to change into street clothes then head out to get something to eat then proceeded to her room's private elevator and went down to the mall and directly to her favorite hair salon where her favorite hairstylist was waiting for her.**

**Cody sees Sierra at the reception desk,heads up front and says:** Well hello Sierra it's been so long! Come! Come with me and we'll talk styling!

 **Sierra follows Cody saying:** I can't shower for a while due to this clunker on my arm and I'm in desperate need of a nice cleansing wash,moisturizing shampoo and deep conditioning mask. All the styling from the road has killed my hair.

 **Cody stops at his station and says:** Sit sit and I'll see what's what.

 **Sierra sits in the styling chair and removes her hat and hair scrunchie allowing her long hair to fall loose saying:** Total rat's nest right?

 **Cody runs his fingers through Sierra's hair saying:** Hmm my dear your hair is fried! It's in dire need of an extreme moisturizing session to restore the moisture it's lost from being styled so much! How much time do we have?

 **Sierra glances at her watch and says:** It's only past lunch and I have no plans to eat until round about seven or eight. Though a medium thick crust pepperoni from Waldo's with a bottle of diet pepsi would be nice, I haven't had lunch! **(Reaches into her shorts pocket and pulls out a twenty and hands it to Cody saying)** It's been so damned long since I had a pizza from Waldo's! I've been craving one for ages but I could never get to one due to the venue not being within walking or biking distance or being out in the middle of nowhere.

 **Cody takes Sierra's cash saying:** SPLENDID! Jordan?! Jessie!

 **Jessie comes out from folding clean towels and loading the washer with dirty towels and says to Sierra:** Well long time no see and what happened to your hair?! It's fried! I'll go get you that medium thick crust pepperoni and two bottles of diet pepsi for your lunch. **(Takes the twenty from Cody's hand and heads towards the front of the salon,past the counter,out the door and across the hall to Waldo's where he put in Sierra's order which turned out to be free due to a promotion going on)**

 **Jordan:** Yes? **(Notices Sierra's frizzy hair and says)** One extremly deep moisturizing package coming right up! Follow me!

**Sierra gets up out of the styling chair and follows Jorges to the back and sits in the middle chair leaning back with all her hair over her right shoulder allowing Jordan to tip her back ensuring all her hair was in the sink and began to wash her dried frizzy hair using the deep moisturizing pretreater that he left on for fifteen minutes so it could work then went to the storage area and retrieved the moisturizing mask, shampoo and intense conditioner then returned to Sierra who had fallen asleep,sat the bottles down on the shelf above the sink, picked up the hose,turned on the water and began rinsing Sierra's hair noticing a marked improvement until all the pretreater was rinsed out before applying the intense leave in hydrating hair mask all through her hair and leaving it setting the clock for another thirty minutes to allow it to work.**

**30 Minutes Later**

**Jordan returns to Sierra at the sink noticing that her hair had started to return to it's natural jet black with purple highlights and begins to wet her hair again to begin the shampoo treatment then once the shampoo treatment was done, he began the conditioning treatment then rinsed it out,wrapped a towel around Sierra's hair and woke her saying:** Alrighty then, off with you to Cody's chair he's waiting for you!

**Sierra stands up and heads over to Cody's workstation and sits in the chair**

**Cody removes the towel allowing Sierra's hair to fall down saying:** Ahh much better! Now lets see if I can pull a fine tooth comb through your hair without any resistance! **(Opens the jar of combs in the sterlizing liquid,plucks out the fine tooth comb and begins pulling it through Sierra's hair without resistance saying)** That treatment was just what the doctor ordered! I'm not getting any resistance in pulling this comb through your hair now! So what shall we do with your hair today? Bring out and emphasize your natural curls?

 **Sierra:** You know, I'd plum forgotten I had natural curly hair! My styling team always neglects my curls and straightens them, so lets do that! Let's bring out the natural curl in my hair that's been there since I was a kid!

 **Cody grabs the heated curlers saying:** Then that's just what we'll do! We'll revigorate your curly hair and bring out those natural curls that have been crying out for help! **(Opens the lid and plucks out one curler at a time and rolls Sierra's hair until it was all up in steam curlers saying)** That's the last curler now let's go sit under the moist dryer and let the moisture from the steam infuse into your hair's natural curl for an hour then we'll brush it out and go from there. **(Walks Sierra over to the moisturizing steam hair dryer,watches as she sat down then brought the dome down over her hair)**

**Sierra grabs her shoulder bag with her tablet in it and heads over to the moisturizing steam hair dryer,sits in the chair,sits her bag on the table beside her,opens the zipper and pulls out her tablet and ear phones that she puts in her ears,turns on the tablet's power,waits while it boots up then tapped the icon that launched her favorite browser that had been closed the previous night after she'd been unable to keep awake long enough to start watching beyond the previews and started watching the actual movie until Cody came back an hour later**

**Five minutes later Jessie returns with Sierra's lunch and treat from the ice cream place next door to the pizza place and takes it directly to her**

**Jessie heads directly over to where Sierra sat saying:** I do apologize for the delay, there were people ahead of me in both places. Here is your change back and here is your lunch, drink and dessert. The Silver Millennium Ice Cream Parlor just had it's grand opening so your sundae is free.

 **Sierra:** Oh cool it's open? They've been postponing it for ages. They were supposed to open a few years ago but when the day of the Grand Opening came around a note appeared on the door saying that due to Inspection Problems they had to cancel and postpone it for six months and listed a date, when that date was a few months away, again the inspector found things that needed to be fixed and kept telling the owners 'fix these few problems and you'll be ready to open on time'. They fixed the few problems, scheduled another inspection a new insepctor came through and refused to give them the green card saying too many things were done wrong for him to issue a green card. They've been denied their passing green card for the last four years. I'm glad Joey finally got to open, it's been her dream since she was a kid. Her mom's a dentist and her dad's a dental hygenist and neither one allowed their kids to have candy,gum,frozen yogurt,soft serve ice cream,ice cream or pop in the house because it was 'worthless cavity causing junk'. From what Jamie's told me on the road, her cousin had spontaneous room and bag inspections by her parents searching for candy and pop and chips, if any of that stuff was found then she got grounded for a month. Imagine your birthday with no cake and ice cream, imagine Halloween with no trick or treating, imagine Christmas with no candy canes to munch on and no stocking stuffers in your stocking because mom and dad don't allow candy in the house or on the property. I believe Joey and her sisters went Trick or Treating ONCE with their dad's parents and when their parents got home, every piece of candy was bagged up and donated to a non profit charity and their costumes were burned in the fire place all the while they were out at an indoor pool party.

 **Jordan:** Sounds alot like my life growing up. My parents were vegans no meat,no eggs, no dairy, no candy nothing that is manufactured. Just what you can grow and harvest from the earth. They did a family tree and found out everyone in the family was a vegan nothing that was manufactured ever entered their diets and they out lived everyone around them. My great grandparents were a hundred and sixty when they passed away, both sets of grandparents are in their late ninties and are more alert and are both in perfect health and still live in the marital home. All their friends are either in wheelchairs,bed ridden or in their graves or in Nursing Homes because they can't take care of themselves anymore and their families can't do it either. **(Heads to the front to tend to a scheduled client while Jessie also headed up front to tend to his scheduled client leaving Sierra to eat her lunch and watch her movie)**

**An hour later**

C **ody returns to Sierra,turns off the moisturizing steam dryer and says:** Alright, let's get you back to my station,get that hair brushed out and styled. Just leave the pizza box and Ice Cream dish and I'll get them after.

 **Sierra finishes the last spoonful of ice cream,then tucks her tablet into the carrying case and stands up following Cody back to his station where she sat down and allowed Cody to remove the curlers from her hair saying:** I've completely forgotten my hair is naturally curly! It's been so long since anyone ever suggested reviving my curls, it's always been 'lets run a hot iron through your hair and straighten these unwanted kinks out of your hair.'

 **Cody:** UNWANTED KINKS?! This type of hair is a rarity! Not every one is blessed to have curly AND wavy hair!

 **Sierra:** Unfortunately, Starlight doesn't have curly wavy hair. Starlight has waist length thick straight hair. So every time I go out on stage I have fifty million hair straightening products in my hair to keep the curls from coming back to life. Even when I adution for movies, they want to straighten out my 'unruly' hair and I spend at least six hours in a stylist's chair getting my curly wavy hair straightened out, even if the character's description calls for her to have waist length thick curly wavy hair, director's often times change the description from thick curly wavy hair to thick waist length hair because wavy curly hair isn't what 'they had in mind'.

 **Cody:** What narrow minded director changes the character's looks mid production?

 **Sierra:** I belive his name was Armand something or other. In his mind girls with curly wavy hair don't look right on camera and if my hair can't be straightened naturally, then I have to wear a wig.

 **Cody:** I see plenty of thirty to forty something women with wavy curly hair trying to pass themselves off as thirteen to ninteen year olds. No freaking thirteen year old girl has perfect boobs,flawless skin and owns a BMW two scenes later.

 **Sierra:** I know I know. School has changed since the thirty to forty something men and women have been in High School. One we rarely if ever took notes using pen and paper, we TYPED our notes it was faster and we could email every note from every chapter to our teacher and allow him to grade them and send them back with our grades, two no one I know in High School uses 'coolio' or 'far out' or 'radical' or 'bees knees' or 'cats pyjamas' or any lingo from the fifties and sixties anymore nothing lingo wise from the seventies exists anymore. But every movie offer I get, all I ever see is full grown men and women auditioning for teenage roles. I once asked one woman 'when the hell were you last in high school?' her answer 'I was born in 1938 and I graduated high school in 1955!' Yeah computers, the internet,tablets,cell phones and wifi didn't exist back then and most of these men and women have no damned idea on how to use the internet because they haven't learned how to surf the net the way I have. Most of them still have basic flip phones because they're afraid to upgrade to the latest modle phone. Most of them have no idea how teenagers in this day and age act,behave,feel or speak because they grew up in a simple time when rent was eighty seven bucks a month, groceries could be bought for under a hundred dollars,gas was twenty three cents a gallon and you could buy a car for under a thousand dollars. Thankfully the Casting Director turned all thirty to forty some adults away saying he was only interested in TRUE teenagers as in those thirteen to nineteen years of age not their moms and Terry's. The casting call went out over the internet,radio and tv that morning and by audition time Saturday Morning the place was packed with high school kids interested in auditioning for the second lead role and background kids. I'd say a good three thousand kids were sent for screen tests and were immediately casted as background kids then as for the twelve main kids well they let me choose who my co-stars would be and I simply chose my band as they were listed as being band kids so why not call in the band for the movie and use real live concert footage in the movie instead of an animated insert which would have looked really ridicuolous.

 **Cody continues brushing and styling Sierra's hair saying:** So when is the movie sound track coming out?

 **Sierra in a sour voice:** Not for another six months,they screwed up the Master Recording for the concert footage so bad that we have to get the actual footage from our last concert and boost the volume and sound of me and the band and the audience then insert that into the right time slot. My concerts are a total of four hours long and have several costume changes because of the amount of sweating we do. The only thing we girls don't wear are skirts and dresses. We absolutley REFUSE to wear any dresses or skirts on stage. We girls don't care how many dresses and skirts are on the clothes racks, we go right for the jeans and tshirts. I have stated at every single prep meeting that there are to be absitivley posolutley NO SKIRTS, BLOUSES OR DRESSES of ANY KIND in our wardrobe. There is no time to get them hemmed or fitted to our bodies properly. It's a five minute clothing change then we're right back out on the stage for the next hour's song set. A fitting of a dress or skirt takes at least an hour for six girls so that's six hours of us standing on pedstals with a skirt hanging off our hips waiting for the seamstresses to come and fit them to us where as our jeans are tailor made for us to have ease of movement in them. But yet at every single concert in the last six months there have been racks upon racks of skirts,blouses and dresses with panty hose and dress shoes waiting to be fitted. Well they waited and they waited and they waited but we never went near those racks and the seamstresses were pretty pissed off at us because they had designed the dresses,skirts and blouses according to each song set's theme and we stuck to the jeans,tshirt vests,running shoes and ball caps.

 **Cody:** So what shall we do with our newly reinvigorated wavy curly hair? Tie it in a ponytail? Shove it back in an over sized hair scrunchy away from your face?

 **Sierra reaches into her tablet's carrying case and pulls out a brand new hair ribbon saying:** How about back in this brand new lilac ribbon I've had for ages but haven't been able to use?

 **Cody takes the ribbon from Sierra's hand and says:** Oooh good choice! Love this ribbon! Why haven't you been able to use this in your hair?

 **Sierra:** I don't wear ribbons to work in the medward and while babysitting little kids. That's out of the question. They'll destroy it and ribbons don't really go with a labcoat.

 **Cody turns the chair away from the mirror and begins combs out Sierra's hair into a half ponytail starting from behind her bangs behind her antenna and above her ears until he had a good sized ponytail in his hands then picked up a clear hair elastic that he pulled her hair through wrapping it around the tail until it was snug then slipped the lilac hair ribbon under the lifted hair and began wrapping it around the hair elastic until he had just enough ribbon left to tie then bow adding a few bobby pins to keep loose strands of hair pinned down then turns her to face the mirror saying:** Well what do we think of our reinvigorated hair?

 **Sierra:** I can't remember the last time my hair looked so shiny and my curls and waves so bouncy! Now comes the bill. **(Thinks to herself)** _I hope and pray I have enough room on my credit card to pay for this otherwise it'll have to come out of my bank account! Oh wait I have a Salon Card for this place that I haven't used. I activiated it but never got the chance to use it for a spa treatment._

 **Cody removes the cape saying:** We are done here! Your bill is waiting for you upfront. Cash, Credit or Debit.

 **Sierra grabs her bag,slips out of the styling chair and heads up to the front of the Salon where she pulled out her wallet and removed her Salon Card saying:** I'll put it on my Salon Card. I hope this time it works! I haven't used it but it is activated!

 **Tracy sets up the machine for Sierra's Salon Card and says:** I hope so too! If not then we'll have to have another meeting about why Salon Chip Cards aren't being accepted when they're brand new. Alright just tap it against the screen and see if it gets accepted.

 **Sierra takes the terminal from Tracy's hand and taps her Salon Card against the screen crossing the fingers on her other hand while watching the screen then says in a relieved voice:** Oh thank god it worked! It must've been the old system acting up.

 **Tracy prints off Sierra's bill of sales saying:** It's about damned time it worked! Have a nice day and pick something nice to wear to Sebastian's! He's a stickler for dress code no shorts,no tshirts, no hiking boots or dusty running shoes at this hour of the night.

 **Sierra glances ather watch and says:** I know! I have just enough time to go back up to my place and get changed into the outfit I have laying on my bed. **(Heads out of the Salon and across the hall to the private elevator bank,pushed the up button then stepped into the empty elevator pressing the penthouse button and watched the doors close then felt as the elevator started up watching as the numbers flashed by on the digital screen until it stopped on her private penthouse floor and the doors opened then she stepped out and opened the door to her penthouse and stepped in shutting the door behind her heading towards her bedroom to change out of her street clothes into the cute periwinkle blue blouse and lilac skirt putting her cute new jeans and tshirt she'd found in the back of her closet ,a brand new pair of running shoes and ball cap into her over the shoulder bag shoving her feet into her slip on shoes.)**

 **Once dressed, Sierra grabbed all four cell phones,her over the shoulder pack that she stuffed all the phones and laptop into, then pulls out her smart phone and dials the number that connected her directly to Sebastian's phone and answered it after three rings saying:** Sebastian

 **Sebastian recognizes the smartphone number and says:** Starlight! You're in town? Let me guess you want the patio that overlooks the water all to yourself incase someone wants to join you for supper? I can put you in the private back patio that way no one will interrupt your supper. I take it you'll be here in about an hour?

 **Sierra:** Give or take depending on how rotten traffic is. I've yet to call my driver to come pick me up without tipping off every single reporter that is doing a really horrid job in trying to hide. Thankfully they don't know that the person they're looking for is right in front of their faces.

 **Sebastian:** Let me do that for you so they won't know you're in town. Just give me a few minutes to call your driver for you. **(Puts Sierra on hold and calls her driver's number waiting until her favorite driver Ethan answered saying)** Ethan? Jewel Tower for Sierra she's going to be waiting in the Parking Garage.

 **Ethan:** Alright I'm on my way to pick her up. **(Hangs up the phone and starts the town car pulling out of the car park towards street level)**

 **Sebastian:** Sierra, Ethan's on his way and I do hope you remembered my restaraunt's evening dress code of no shorts or tank tops!

 **Sierra catches a glimpse of a photographer from a gossip magazine across the street trying to hide behind a transformer and saysin the reflective glass and says** : Uh could you tell Ethan I'll be down in a few minutes, my original plans to go to Wendy's were just interrupted by the press.

 **Sebastian:** How did they know you'd be home for awhile? No one told them! Wait a minute, I know what's going on! That idiot thinks Starlight lives there and is desperate for gossip because all is quiet on the music scene in regards to Starlight so he wants to stir the pot and cause trouble for you.

 **Sierra:** I have no doubt that's what he wants to do and in this outfit, he'll connect the dots and realize I'm both Starlight and Sierra like no doy it's my given name of Sierra Starlight .

 **Sebastian:** I'll let Ethan know. **(Hangs up with Sierra and calls Ethan back saying)** Ethan, Sierra will be running a little late. Someone's tipped the gossip magazine's photographer that Starlight's in town. She'll meet you down in the parking garage.

 **Ethan irritated as hell says:** Great those bozo's just can't accept the fact that Sierra and her band need time to decompress off the road and be just normal teenagers while she goes on to do other things either in or out of the spotlight. I mean after all she was an athlete before she became a musical sensation overnight. Oh dang, I gotta get my two in for a spaw session, they look like refugees from a refugee camp.

 **Sebastian:** I doubt she'll be any later than five minutes tops. She's taking the private elevator down to the parking garage

 **Ethan:** Alright then the Parking Garage under her building in the private parking space.

**A few minutes later**

**Ethan pulls up,stops the car putting it in park,unbuckles his seatbelt,opens the car door and gets out going around to open the back passenger seat door on the left side of the car for Sierra saying:** I thought you'd be at least fifteen minutes late with finding the right outfit to wear to Sebastian's.

 **Sierra:** No I had an outfit laid out on the bed for such emergencies. **(Removes her over the shoulder bag and sets it on the seat then slides in sitting down and buckles her safety belt while Ethan shut the door and went back to the drivers side,got in,buckled up and started the car back up taking it out of park and headed out the private entrance/exit emerging out in the back street behind Jewel Tower that took him directly to Sebastian's By The Bay)**

**The entire drive to Sebastian's was spent in silence while Sierra took a nap until an hour later they arrived and Ethan got out of the car to open Sierra's door to allow her out.**

**Ethan gently shakes a sleeping Sierra saying:** Hi, wakie wakie! We're here!

 **Sierra yawns,stretches and says:** Oh? Oh we are. Guess I must've dozed off.

 **Ethan:** I'll be back for you around quarter past midnight! Please be ready and waiting out here for me.

 **Sierra:** Quarter past midnight it is then. Oh wait no, I'll be going back home with my family!

 **Ethan:** Oh good then I don't have to worry about being late to pick you back up again!

 **Sierra:**  By the time everyone else leaves, Mahad will have had his fill of his grand kids and will happily dump them back on his son in law to bring back home for supper,bath and bed.

 **Ethan:** I have no doubts he'll dump the kids back on their dad. They're exhausting at that age and his line of work isn't all that safe for little kids to see or be around.

 **Sierra:** It's too bad I can't play for another eight weeks.

 **Ethan:** Arm not healed yet?

 **Sierra:** Not yet, there's still a few breaks that haven't healed yet but the other cast needed to be repaced with this one. **(Turns and head up the ramp into the restaraunt where she was greeted by a very flustered new greeter)**

 **Marlin looks up from the reservation book and says:** Do we have a reservation?

 **Sebastian comes out from inside the restaraunt saying:** Of course she does! It's a long standing one at that under Sierra. Don't look in the book! I never wrote it in the book! I always put it where greeters can find it on the wall calander. She's booked the entire back room and patio to herself so she can have peace and quiet. Let's go Sierra and get you settled in so you can order and have your meal and dessert then get your bill before Ethan returns to pick you up again at quarter after twelve. **(Escortes Sierra to the back room with the patio over looking the water and seats her right next to the door saying)** I'm glad you managed to find something other than those tattered shorts and tank top to wear.

 **Sierra sits in the chair facing out the window saying:** I'd never show up in street clothes, I always have a back up plan incase my casual dining plans are foiled by the press leaking information as to where I'm going to be going for dinner. Thankfully they don't know I'm here unless they've tracked my cell phone and wifi activity. I won't be going back home with Ethan, my friends are coming to dinner that's why I don't want to eat right now.

 **Sebastian:** I have guards stationed all around the building to keep the press and fans away from here. They only know you as Sierra not as Sierra so they'll dismiss sightings of you here as a misidentification. **(Hands Sierra a menu saying)** What will it be tonight? Baby back ribs with mashed potatoes,large diet cherry coke and a banana split? Maybe something set aside for Terrence and his family join you here if they show up?

 **Sierra hands Sebastian back the menu saying:** You hit the nail on the head, don't let them forget the salad,bread and water. The last time all I got was half a meal --- well just the salad, they said the kitchen was out of ribs and subsituted the ribs for the four piece halibut meal and charged me for the rib meal. Yeah go ahead and set aside menu's for the rest of my family, they'll be joining me in an hour along with his my uncle and his family.

 **Sebastian:** That is unacceptable! We had just gotten a huge shipment of ribs in that morning, there was no excuse for giving you the four piece halibut meal instead of the rib meal you ordered and charging you for the rib meal instead of the fish meal! I will personally deliver your order to the kitchen and put it in the POS System myself so there's no one coming back with the excuse there's no ribs left.

 **Sierra:** Don't put my order in right away, just wait awhile like until everyone else has arrived, I don't need to get another three hour lecture on how my Terry raised me better than to eat before everyone else has arrived. But I will have a pitcher of Diet Cherry Coke and a pitcher of water to drink, I'm thirsty. Oh and no ice! Just two super chilled pitchers one for the pop and one for the water and super chilled glasses as well. Cuts down on the dillution of the pop from the ice melting. Oh and the usual four kids meals for the kids and Jet's usual meal for him when he gets here

 **Sebastian Jots down Sierra's order on a note pad then heads towards the door,then exits the room and heads to the kitchen saying:** LISTEN UP AND LISTEN CAREFULLY! TWO LARGE RIB COMBOS NO VEG NO PARSLEY, MASHED POTATOES GRAVY ON THE SIDE! TWO SIDE GARDEN SALADS DRESSINGS ON THE SIDE AND EIGHTEEN LOAVES OF BREAD! DO NOT FIRE ANYTHING UNTIL I GET WORD HER OTHER SET OF GUESTS HAVE ARRIVED! SHE DOES NOT WANT COLD FOOD! **(Proceeds to open the freezer to pull out a super chilled pitcher then fills it with Diet Cherry Coke then pulls out another super chilled pitcher and fills it with fresh water and reaches into the glass chiller and pulls out two tall wide glasses filling one with Diet Cherry Coke and the other with water then puts everything on a tray and carries it out to Sierra saying)** One pitcher of Diet Cherry Coke for you to drink and one pitcher of water to take your pills with.

 **Sierra:** Oh thanks, I have pills to take. Oh would you also bring me a super chilled jug of Ginger Ale, baby's been making me nauseous and gassy all day.  **(Opens her purse and removes a pill bottle filled with pills,removes the top,dumps them into her hand then pops them into her mouth and takes a long drink from the straw in the water glass to wash them all down saying)** There that's the supper medication taken so I don't have to hear 'did you remember to take your pills?'

 **Sebastian:** Of course I'll bring you a super chilled jug of Ginger Ale and conrats on the fifth upcoming child!

**Twenty Minutes later outside the private room**

**Terrence walks by the door way to the private room where Sierra sat waiting saying:** Sierra said she'd meet us here but I don't see her anywhere,unless my eyes are so tired I'm looking at her but not seeing her!

 **Crystal stops in the door way and recognizes the lilac ribbon and grabs Terrence's sleeve saying:** Are you color blind? Sierra's here, you just don't recognize her.

 **Terrence stops and backs up saying:** Oh found her. Working on the next chapter of her little chapter book for the little one's bedtime story. Shouldn't it be done by now?

 **Bryce:** It is done, she's just adding a few more layers of color to it and personalizing eachone. Caitie gets the Panda book, Callie gets the Wolf book, Max gets the Elephant Book and Jarred gets the Koala book. She just needs to send it off to the publisher and it'll be ready for pick up in time for their birthday next month.

 **Crystal:** They'll love their own personalized animal story books. **(Turns and enters the private room saying)** Holy chipotle I never thought there was a private room in this restaraunt over looking the water. Alright go find a spot to sit please. **(Watches as the four little ones head towards the long table to choose where they're going to sit and says)** Oh wait, are there booster seats available for them to sit on? Otherwise they can't reach the table or their food. **(Notices the published books and says)** They're published already?

 **Sierra:** Yeah, they were done yesterday and on my doorstep this morning, I'm just putting them into animal shaped envelopes to match their books. No problem, those are booster chairs. They go from high chair to booster chair in one flip. They've been flipped to the booster seat position for them. Are they still drinking out of sissy cups as Bryce calls them.

 **Crystal:** No, Saorise got rid of those shortly after they learned how to drink out of big kid cups with straws. They're still learning how to handle utensils so I brought their own plates and cutlery. That isn't a problem with the owner is it? Where is Saorise Bryce?

 **Bryce heaves a sigh saying:** Home sick with the flu,chills,complete body aches. I took the kids to give her some peace and quiet.

 **Sierra:** Why don't you ask Sebastian himself? He's right behind you. Sebastian four little ones don't know how to eat using regular cutlery or eat off of regular plates, is it alright if they use their own?

 **Sebastian:** No not a problem, if they're just learning how to use cutlery I highly and strongly suggest to parents to bring anything for their children that will make it an easy dining experience. Some parents listen and some parents don't and get frustrated when their kids end up messier than when they eat at home off their own plates with their own cutlery. Do you have their plates with you? That way I can take them to the kitchen and have them put their food on their own plates.

 **Crystal reaches into her satchel and pulls out four sets of dishes saying:** Here we go,four bowls, plates and four tumblers for drinking out of. **(Hands the dishes to Sebastian saying)** Caitie gets the dishes with Firefly on them, Jarred gets the Batman dishes,Callie gets the dishes with Elsa on them and Max gets the Angry Birds dishes. Their names are on the bottom of each dish in permanent water resistant ink so if you need to run them through the sanitizer the ink won't come off.

 **Sebastian takes the cutlery saying** : Perfect. I'll go run these through the santizer then they'll be ready for food to be put on. So what will the little ones be eating? Chicken? Ribs? Steak?

 **Crystal sits down and says:** They've been begging me for weeks on end for the kids meal ribs, mashed potatoes gravy,vegetables and a small salad ever since Sierra brought them here for lunch a few months ago. Just take the meat off the bones so they won't choke on them. The older kids will order their own food, I'm only ordering for the little ones who haven't quite learned how to read menus properly yet. I'll have the AA+ Prime Rib medium with mashed potatoes and gravy,grilled vegetables, large diet pepsi with water.

 **Bryce:** I'll have the ribs with potatoes and gravy,absolutley NO VEGETABLES and NO RICE and NO PARSLEY and No I don't want a side salad or any kind of vegetable, I'm sick to death of vegetables.

 **Rei-Anne:** Same thing as Bryce except I don't want potatoes I'll have rice, no veg, no parsley no salad

 **Sakura:** I'll have the steak medium rare no veg,no salad,no parsley

 **Tyson:** I'll go with the steak medium, no salad,no veg,no rice, no potato and no parsley.

 **Hailley:** I'll go with the large bowl of gumbo,garden salad,no potatoes,small bowl of rice and no parsley

 **Carrie:** Me,Carter,Bryant and Holly will share the extra large pepperoni pizza

 **Terrence:** I'll have the same as Crystal **(spots his brother walking by and says)** Holly go grab aunt Kari and her brood and bring them in here.

**Holly backs away from the table,slips off her chair,goes around the table and heads out into the hall grabbing the back of Kari's shirt to grab her attention**

**Kari turns around and says:** Oh hi Holly, where is everyone?

 **Holly:** In the room behind me. It's big and there's enough room for everyone.

 **Kari says to Kyle:** Kyle go grab your dad and siblings then ship them to the big room.

 **Kyle takes Teddy's hand off his arm and puts it on the handle of the buggy then dashes ahead and grabs his dad's shirt saying:** You gotta back up dad, we passed them on the way here.

 **Pike:** We did? **(smells the scent of four soggy diapers coming from the buggy and says)** Uhh alright everyone else go with Kyle and I'll meet you there, I'm on the way to the family washroom to change the quads. Good thing I have the diaper bag with me. **(Finally sees the family washroom and opens the door pushing in the buggy closing and locking it behind him)**

 **Kari sees Kyle and his siblings minus their dad and says:** Kyle, where's your Terry and the buggy?

 **Kyle:** He was diverted, dad went ahead to the family washroom, the quads needed attention. He'll join us after he's finished changing diapers,put the quads back in the buggy and washed his hands .

 **Kari:** Oh diaper duty. Alright everyone inside this room with a view,find a spot to sit and order.

**Holly heads back into the room,around the table and sits back in her spot**

**Crystal:** I didn't think you'd be able to make it

 **Kari:** Neither did I, who knew one parent could have so many worries over one small scratch. Is it infected? will she need rabies shots? will I need to look into amputation of the limb? do I need to treat it every hour on the hour? Are you sure that an antibiotical band aid will do the trick? Will I have to flush out the wound? I kept telling her that a little bit of anitbiotical ointment with an antibiotical bandage will clear up the cut in a few days. But she was so paranoid.

 **Sierra:** Remember the little boy who came in with the typical twelve inch scratch on his lower leg whose mother thought he'd have to loose his leg?

 **Kari:** Oh how could I forget him? A small amount of polysporne with an antibiotical bandage and he was good to go for a few days. I didn't see him again until his Terry brought him in to have his shots updated and I took a look at the scratch which by then was non existant but his mother was flipping out over an infection brewing in the 'open wound' which was non existant as it had already healed.

 **Crystal:** Or the mother who brought her kid in with a spattering of orange paint on her face swearing up and down it was chicken pox?

 **Kari:** I'll never forget her. I took a wet wash cloth to her kids face and wiped off the water soluable paint from his face. Her daughter on the other hand had chicken pox for real but she kept insisting that it was merely paint on her daughters face until the spots refused to wash off with a damp wash cloth. **(Picks up the menu and quickly finds her favorite dish and says)** I'll have the Jambalaya with shrimp,a garden salad,rice and a large diet pepsi. For the four little girls, they will all have the chicken kiddie meal with a small bowl of rice and four small glasses of diet pepsi very little ice, even better if you have four small extra chilled plastic cups with lids that'd be even better just ensure the cups are wiped of excess moisture.

 **Crystal:** Do you have their own little cups with you? Sebastian will fill those instead and put the food on their plates intsead of big plates so they can use their own utensils.

 **Kari reaches into the satchel and pulls out four sets of my little pony dinnerware with matching cups saying:** Their names are on the bottom of each piece in permanent water resistant marker.

 **Kyle speaks on behalf of his four little sisters saying:** They have halibut kiddie meals, pizza kiddie meals, kids meals with ribs in them why not get off the chicken boat and get on board a new boat. Why not let them have something other than chicken! It's just as bad as having pot roast every day of the week for three months. You start wanting something else to eat other than roast or chicken.

 **Kari:** We'll wait for your father to arrive and decide what your siblings can and can't have. Just remember, they're just starting back on solid food after being sick.

 **Pike walks in with the buggy and the freshly diapered quads saying:** Just let them pick out what ever they want to eat, I'm tired of chicken and rice myself. Is that all you know how to make Kari? Chicken and Rice tends to get very boring.

 **Bryce:** Just like one pot beef stew six days a week with corn on the cob and busicuits added on Sundays for a 'change'.

 **Crystal:** If you're all tired of beef stew why didn't anyone bring this up at menu planning?

 **Terrence:** Because you-are-a-bulldozer! You bulldoze over their contributions with 'I've already got the menu planned but thanks for the input. This week will be beef stew with rice,veg and salad with vanilla pudding for dessert, next week will be potroast with rice,veg and salad with vanilla pudding for dessert, the week after that is chicken stew with rice, veg,salad and vanilla pudding for dessert.' You don't WANT their input and you wonder why they often times eat at a friends house for supper instead of coming home and eating. At least Sierra gets to eat what she wants for supper instead of the samething over and over again.

 **Sierra:** That's because I live on my own and make my own meals. Friday, Saturday and Sundays are the three days of the week where I pick someplace I've never been to for supper in ages, like tonight it's here at Sebastian's. Monday's are subway days, Tuesdays I go to Taco Bell,Wednesdays I go to Wendy's and Thursdays I do Halibut from the little fish and chip place down by the pier and sometimes on Mondays I just do pb&j sandwiches with chocholate milk,a bowl of fruit loops,a cup of yogurt and a banana in bed infront of my television with out the fear of reprimand from anyone who doesn't approve of me eating in my bedroom instead of at the dining room table like a 'normal' person eating what everyone else is eating. Sometimes I sleep late and eat supper when ever I remember to eat supper sometimes like I said I'm content eating a bowl of cereal,a cup of yogurt,a banana and a glass of chocolate milk and if I'm in a finicky mood and don't want to do what I usually do, I switch up the menu and have fish on Mondays,Pizza on Tuesdays,Tacobell on Wednesdays and Subway on Thursdays or I go to the donut store and get something to eat or I go to Swiss Chalet and eat or order in.

 **Crystal:** Is that your place or is it someone else's place?

 **Sierra:** It's my place, Dragon gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday rent free as Assistant to the Super Intendent of the building. I'm the one that collects the rent from the renters and puts it in the building's bank account at the end and beginning of each month. Thus far no complaints from anyone except 334, as per usual her complaint is of non existant noise from above her as she's right below the roof so there's nothing on that side of the building.

 **Kari:** So Dragon owns the condo building then?

 **Sierra:** Yep,owns it, drew up the plans, had it built to specific specifications to avoid shoe box size single bedroom apartments or apartments where the bedroom is in the kitchen. He hates that floor plan. My place takes up the entire hidden east wing of Jewel Tower. Looking at it from the street, it looks like a maintence wing where the Maintenece People go to get their cleaning stuff but it's actually a penthouse complete with rooftop pool and 124' privacy wall with retractable roof to keep out the tabloid drones complete with one way tinted windows meaning I see what you're doing but you can't see what I'm doing nor can you tap my wifi internet or my cellphone beacuse they're all custom made for me with tight security. Up the hall and to the left is Dragon's place then there's the empty condo up the hall and to the right that's been set aside for Basil and Autumn when ever they're freed from Prison.

 **Kari turns her attention back to the kids menu and sees all the different options and says:** Lilly what off this menu do you want?

 **Lilly:** Pizza

 **Kari:** Clover? Do you want chicken too or the riblet meal? Kyle show her the picture menu

 **Kyle picks up the picture menu and shows it to Clover saying:** Pizza,Chicken, Ribs, Halibuit Krispies,Shrimp,Lobster,Crab, Hamburger,Cheese Burger,Grilled Cheese, Jambalaya or Gumbo? Just point to what you want to have for supper.

**Clover stares at the menu then points to the four pieces of Halibut and fries kiddie meal**

**Kyle:** Clover wants the Halibuit Krispes with fries meal **(takes the menu over to Poppy saying)** Point out what you want to eat. **(Watches as his sister pointed to the shrimp and fries saying** ) Poppy wants the shrimp and fries kiddie meal, Holly what do you want off this menu? **(Shows Holly the picture menu and watches as her little finger pointed to the gumbo and says)** Holly wants the gumbo kids meal. Oh do you have a braille menu for Teddy?

 **Darnell hands Sebastian the braille menu saying:** One braille menu for the boy who needs it.

 **Sebastian:** Which one is Teddy?

 **Kyle:** The one sitting next to my empty spot.

 **Sebastian walks over to where Kyle sat and hands Teddy the menu saying:** Here you go, one braille menu.

 **Teddy takes the braille menu from Sebastian,lays it flat on the table in front of him and begins running his fingers over the bumps then says:** I'll go with the cheese burger deluxe platter, only ketchup and mustard, no gravy on the fries no slaw and most definitly no tomato, pickle or lettuce and a mug cherry rootbeer.

 **Kyle:** I'll have what Teddy's having the exact same way and the same thing to drink.

**One by one the other kids picked out their supper ending with their Terry picking out the Jambalaya until all orders had been written down and Sebastian left the room to put all the orders into the POS System then takes the children's dishes into the kitchen**

**Sebastian calls out for his dishwasher:** Amy?

 **Amy comes out saying:** Yes?

 **Sebastian hands her a pile of little kids plates saying:** These need to be sanitized before using. We have quite a few little guests who are just learning to use cutlerly and their parents would like for them to eat off of their own plates.

 **Amy takes the dishes from Sebastian's hands,takes them over to the sanitizer and puts them on the sanitizing rack then sends them through the sanitzier until they were clean then takes them over to the chef saying:** The four boneless rib orders go on these plates, the Chicken kids meal,Halibuit Kids Meal, the Shrimp and Fries Kids meal and the Halibuit Krispies with Fries go on the my little pony plates. Lilly gets the chicken, Clover gets the Halibuit Krispies,Poppy gets the shrimp and Holly gets the kiddie gumbo meal .

 **Darren:** How do I know whose plate is whose?

 **Amy:** Caitie gets the dishes with Firefly on them, Jarred gets the Batman dishes, Callie gets the dishes with Elsa on them and Max gets the Angry Birds dishes. Clover gets the Princess and the Frog dinnerware,Holly gets the Brave dinnerware, Lilly gets the Hamtaro dinnerware and Poppy gets the Paw Patrol dinnerwear. They're all personalized for each child.

 **Darren notices the names on the plates and says:** Oh good then I don't have to worry about getting the food mixed up. **(Proceeds to plate each child's meal on their plates and puts them on the serving tray saying)** First order's up, second order's up. I have every order ready except Sierra's order, I'll fire that order when her other friends arrive. For now just grab two of the family sized loaves of bread. **(Grabs a rice bowl off the shelf and fills it with rice then puts it on the tray and says)** Full order up!

 **Andy finishes filling jugs with diet pepsi,water,a large tea pot with hot water for tea and a large coffee carafe with coffee that he places on a separate tray that he picked up and carried following the other five servers into the private dining room saying:** Here we go a personal pepperoni pizza for Lilly,Halibut and Fries for Clover,shrimp and fries kiddie meal for Poppy and for Holly,Halibuit Krispes with fries. Kyle gets the beginner's bowl of gumbo, Taylor gets the Rice Pilaf, Jet gets the medium paella, Jenna gets her medium shrimp plate,Kari-Callista gets her medium jambalya, Tea gets her broasted chicken platter, warmed up bottles of milk for the twins. **(Continues until everyone had been served their food then heads out of the dining room closing the doors behind him)**

**Two hours later everyone had finished eating the main course as well as the dessert and were resting their stomachs.**

**JT brings up the Couture Ball her class was throwing and says:** Now the touchy subject...... Balls

 **Jaeden:** Baseball,Basketball,Football,Volleyball,Dodge Ball

 **JC:** No idiot formal dances

 **Sierra:** Kari take your girls and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. DO NOT allow them to be dragged kicking and screaming into our world.

 **Kari:** JT you DO NOT want to be introduced into the world Sierra's parents truley come from.

 **JT:** This isn't my doing, it's my teacher's doing. She had this brilliant stroke of 'genius' and came up with the idea to teach the class about the elite socitey's world.

 **Sierra groans and says:** I reiterate RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! I'm royalty and I STILL can't believe my aunt Starlight can remember all twenty seven sets of table and social etiquette manners. Some days I can't believe she can remember what the devil she needed an egg fork for or for that matter why she needed seven spoons to eat pudding for or why she needed to change her outfit for every single meal. Can't wear her favorite periwinkle blue dress to lunch after wearing it to luncheon now can we Kari?

 **Kari:** Oh heavens to betsy no!First up comes pre-breakfast and that's served to you in bed, which is basically warm yogurt with berries on the verge of going bad with what feels like four cups of sugar ontop and half a container of whipped cream,a scalding hot cup of tea with lukewarm water to 'cool it down' with because as the three of us know, cold water is bad for the digestion so early in the morning!

 **Terrence:** Oh dear god I still hear that on a daily basis from mothers bringing in their kids who have stomach aches. 'See Stephanie I told you that drinking COLD ORANGE JUICE was bad for your digestion! It's given you stomach cramps! Now you be a good girl and listen to the doctor when he tells you no more cold drinks at breakfast! It's bad for your digestion!' Too bad I wasn't the one who burst their bubbles

 **Crystal:** Isn't that Brody's job as a dietician?

 **Terrence:** Oh yeah he had fun telling them that the stomach cramps her daughter was experiencing were MENSTRUAL CRAMPS and had nothing to do with cold orange juice. Oh the looks of utter and complete horror the mothers give Brody's wife followed by them clapping their hands over their daughters ears and saying "She's TOO YOUNG for THAT to start! She's barely nine years old!'

 **Sierra:** Whoop-dee-doo! I was seven when I started the change of life. I was well prepared for that to happen. At least my mom didn't insist I was too young to start my period, I had Amber who had started at seven so she made it feel less scary and more like 'eh,here we go again! At least I'm not pregnant yet!'

 **Kari:** I noticed you don't have food, are YOU expecting Sierra?

 **Sierra:** No, I had a late lunch and I'm not really hungry right now.

 **Crystal:** So after your pre-breakfast,you get up and have your bath, and once bath is done and you're all dressed, it's to the banquet hall for the first of eight morning courses. First up it's the appetizers nothing to write home about mostly over cooked eggs that could knock a person out if they were ever thrown, then comes the entre-- again nothing to write home about, mostly just vegetables pureed beyond belief, then the soup course I still don't understand why we needed to eat soup at breakfast, then it's the salad course, then the fish course, then the actual breakfast is served and if you're lucky you have room to eat twelve bowls of the bland,flavorless,wall paper paste they call porridge, then the pallet cleansers, then there's the pancakes that can break a window and pancake syrup that your uncle could use to patch up the wounded and send them on their way, after that it was the berry course, not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination usually almost always goose berries, then we have the drinks mostly for the kids and young adults it was <shudders then says> Prune Juice. It was disgusting we'd have been happy with orange juice but that was saved for special occasions. Then we have our early morning nap to digest everything if we actually ate anything which we rarely if ever did.

 **Sierra:**  During weeding season I wore a short sleeved shirt,a pair of pants and boots, during Planting and Harvest seasons I wore the dress I wore in Atem's court since I could move faster without anything holding me back.

 **Crystal:** By the time you're done being changed you have fifteen minutes to get to the Lunch Hall for lunch then after lunch you have to go and change yet again into another dress for after lunch cocktails followed by three hours worth of sitting in the Lunch Hall eating caviar and fingerling sandwiches or if it's dessert it's twelve different types of pudding meticulously piped around the dessert plate with twelve slices of different flavored cakes on the inside then twelve different tarts to wrap it all up and by that time you're rare and ready to throw everything in your stomach up and swear to god you never ever want to see that much dessert ever again in your life.

 **Holly:** Caviar?

 **Sierra:** Fish Rowe

 **Carter:** FISH EGGS? You ate FISH EGGS?!

 **Sierra** : Oh the boring joys of being brought up in polite society yeech. Lets start in the proper order of things shall we? You're awakened at three in the morning to have a bath

 **Kari:** You're scrubbed by a rough pouff to 'scrub off the nights sweat,dead skin and fur'

 **Crystal:** Then you get dunked with half scalding hot water being dumped over your head followed by sickeningly sweet smelling floral shampoo that is literally scrubbed into your poor scalp for two hours to get your hair silky smooth and shiny. Then once your hair is done and thoroughly rinsed of the shampoo and your fur is thoroughly rinsed of the irritating body wash, you get up out of the tub which by then is so thick with soap it's not funny and you go over to another tub full of clean water where you go through the 'cleansing' routine to ensure all soap residue is out of your hair and fur, you get out of that tub, get wrapped in an oversized overfluffed bath robe and lead to the dressing room

 **Kari:** Then they start brushing out your hair and fur until they shine, then they start pulling your hair back and underpinning it to make it look shorter then they start threading pearls through your hair and that takes at least four and a half hours to get done, then comes the jewels they thread in between the pearls and once that's done they start in on getting you dressed.

 **Crystal:** Sierra can better tell you what's under the dress. My ancestor left her high society surroundings for a life in the country as far away from Atlanticia as she could plausibly get as did Kari's ancestor

 **Kari:** Shannon left polite socitey just before she started courting her husband, she never raised her children the way she was raised.

 **Sierra:**  I grew up in Ancient Egypt, I wore one light weight dress because it was so hot. Back home I wore the same simple dress. Because I was always out in the field helping out with planting,weeding and harvesting, fancy dresses and shoes had no place. I had to wear clothes I could move fast in. It's at least three layers of under skirts with drawstring underpants and a scoop neck undertop 

 **JC:** If I have to put all that on, school will be over by the time I'm dressed!

 **Kari:** Sierra cheated when she got dressed in the mornings! She skipped a whole whack of steps.

 **Sierra:**  No I didn't. I grew up here on Earth in Ancient Egypt. Way too hot for multiple layers, other than that your uncle Marshall and Teddy are one in the same person. 

 **Kari:** That's what I've been wondering ever since I read the 'informative' letter her teacher sent home. Ladies did not participate in sports or anything messy, they were spectators at sporting events.

 **Crystal:** I don't think her teacher was thinking about that, she probably seen Sierra in one of her Drama Club Performances and thought 'Oh my students would look so charming dressed like they did back when Kings and Queens ruled the land! That's it! The theme for our next Cultural Project! They'll have to wear it all day, there's nothing going on that will interefere with my plans, so next Friday will be the day we do this!' and started preparing to get this event off the ground.

 **Sierra snickers saying:** What she seen was just a play and by no means was it accurate to the letter. We have to have free range of movement on stage and the ability to take a deep breath so we can sing. It also makes me wonder if she realizes both girls AND boys wore stays and they started at the tender age of three and wore them all their lives. We women had it the worst because the rule of thumb was this: the tighter the corset laces were pulled, the smaller your waist became. If you were to have an xray taken of your insides the organs would all be smooshed together. To make this extraordinarily scary, there were women who actually took their daughters in to have two or three rib bones removed so that they would be able to wear the bigger and longer corsets. They even wore corsets during pregnancy just not as tight because hell you can't tighten a corset around a baby bump though many women in my court tried to do just that and found out they couldn't.

 **Crystal:** When will teachers stop teaching kids that you get mono by kissing someone?

 **Terrence:** If that's the case, then Pike and I are LONG over due!

 **Pike adjusts his daughter's position in his arm and tightens his grip on her bottle and looks up saying:** Aww no! I had it in sixth grade thank you very much! The same year I got mumps from what's her face that sat behind me and was constantly whispering to little miss bubble head every three minutes of the day. It got worse by the time French class started, then I couldn't hear a damned thing because she and little miss bubble head,little miss airhead and little miss 'I don't know' were furiously whispering as loud as they possibly could. It got progressively worse when it was time for independant book reports.

 **Kari:** Oh what was her name she was in my seventh grade class the year I transfered into your school while my old one underwent renovations. Oh damned she was named of all things for a fruit. Her mother was an air head

 **Sierra:** Her daughter is Blair my keyboardist and her mother's name has nothing to do with fruit, it was Rachel, her aunt is named Cherry. Her Terry's sister's name for some really weird reason is japanese for Strawberry mainly Ichigo.

 **Pike:** THAT'S HER! She kept whispering to little miss bubble and little miss airhead and little miss eye roll and little miss 'i don't know the anwer'.

 **Sierra:** Brianna's mother had severe floral allergies and the teachers in seventh grade loved that god awful perfume called 'Bouquet of Dreams'. The idiots you're talking about all have kids who are in order 'Brittany,Bridgette,Brianna and Bethanny' They're the reasons I took the Academy's offer of early graduation. They were in every single one of my classes and sat behind me in every single one of them and whispered like grade schoolers. I took my issue up in ninth grade to the Academy's Board and they separated them for an entire year with the stipulation that they were never to be in the same classes ever again. The very next year they were in my English Class, my Math Class,my Science Class,my Geography Class, my History Class,my Gym Class and my training program but all they did during training program was sit in the bleachers whispering and giggling until they were issued red cards and told to go change into their training clothes as to which they scoffed 'yeah right, we don't change our clothes for gym class, so what makes you think we're going to change for this class? What gives you the remote idea we're here to participate if we don't participate in gym class? We don't even like the outfits, they're so hideously ugly! So be a good teacher and just pass us already so we can like get out of here without breaking a sweat and getting all stinky and sweaty!' Ahh the looks of sheer horror when they found out that gym and training classes were being combined into one big class and instead of two teachers we only had Blaine to answer to. If you know Blaine then you KNOW he doesn't just 'pass' anyone unless they earn the marks. Poor Brittany,Bridgette,Brianna and Bethanny, their jaws hit the floor at the end of term when they got their report cards,looked down at Training-Gym Class expecting to see a glowing comment and perfect grade only to find a big fat red 'F' and the comment 'I warned _____ that she had to EARN her marks at the beginning of term! _______ decided being pretty was more important than participation so their grade reflects their decision!' Attached to their report cards were letters to their parents from Blaine basically reading 'Dear __________, your daughter Bridgette/Brianna/ Brittany/ Bethany decided at the beginning of term that their looks were more important than their Training-Gym Credits therefore their mark reflects that. If they wish to graduate on time then see the list of courses they have failed more than once and see to it that they do not get near each other. If necessary make arrangements to have them in different parts of the school on different lunch periods and different dismissal times so that they can focus more on their grades then on their looks. Each one of them has been put on Academic Probation until such time as their grades improve. They have also been banned from taking any cell phones to class nor are they permitted to be on any social media outlets until such time as their grades improve. To ensure their grades improve, their schedules for next term are comprised of the courses they have failed more than once and that now includes my class. They were given uniforms for Training-Gym Class along with appropriate shoes and swim wear. When we are doing swimming class, they are expected to wear the two piece with the racer back and closed front swim top with the full rear coverage bottoms and not their own personal bikinis. If they show up in anything other than what was given to them at the start of the term, they will forefeit their credit and I will continue to see them until their marks and attitudes improve.' and it was signed by their Art Teacher, Blaine and four other teachers pissed off that they prefer to show up to class in pretty skirts, cute blouses, adorable shoes with their hair all coiffed and their faces all prettied up. From what I heard Brittany, Bridgette,Brianna and Bethanny's parents have blocked snapchat,facebook,twitter and whatever other social media outlets and have disabled the messenger app on their phones and tablets,taken away their make up and hair kits and stripped down their closets to a pair of jeans,a tshirt,their gym uniform,swim suits and running shoes. That's all they're allowed to wear until they smarten up and fly right in school. None of them is allowed to be near the other until further notice, from what Brianna's mom has said, it's until Brianna's grades and attitude improve. Once those improve maybe just maybe Brianna can go back to being friends with Brittany,Bethanny and Bridgette. Until then the 'B' Crew is no more.

 **Crystal:** Bet they weren't happy when they found out Gym and Training were now one class instead of two.

 **Sierra:** Nope, they were horrified when Blaine read the rules with rule number one being 'I do NOT just pass anyone. If you want to pass, get your asses into that locker room,get into your training-gym uniform and shoes with your hair tied back and make up wiped off ready to start training-gym class. If you're more than fifteen minutes late not in uniform,make up wiped off and gym shoes on then you'll be docked fifteen marks every time ontop of a red card for every day you don't come to class in uniform with gym shoes on,hair tied back and make up and perfume wiped off and ready to participate and earn your damned grades. No one is going to sit in those bleachers whispering, giggling,playing hair salon,batting their eyelashes and expect to just coast through my class. You're here to EARN your marks not have them handed to you. Oh and by the way there is no other gym class option anymore. The Academy took that off the table and merged it with Training Class, so if you think you're just gonna sit in the bleachers and play dress up,hair and nail salon and whisper and giggle then you are sadly mistaken. I'll let it slide today since this just happened but be ready for tomorrow's class as in be dressed in your mandatory shorts,tshirts and running shoes with your hair tied back,make up and perfume wiped off because I will NOT tolerate you not being ready for class. Now since I have to figure out how in the hell I can merge shoddily prepared course materials from the gym class with my lesson plans that are thoroughly prepared and in order.' That took the four of us six hours going through the old gym teacher's office and filing cabinets trying to find some semblance of old lesson plans.

 **Crystal:** Find anything?

 **Sierra scoffs saying:** Nothing, all we found were half written gym lesson plans going back to when the high school division was first founded when I was thirteen. SIX FREAKING YEARS AGO! Nothing since then since every time we got someone in who was a gym teacher from before the third war started, they were automatically sent out to the front lines after teaching for like three weeks. It was either that or they taught for three weeks then they were pulled to train the Army recruits and were never seen or heard from again, just like all my History and Geography teachers they showed up started teaching then the Army got a bug in their ear that there were unrecruited History and Geography Teachers teaching HIGH SCHOOL KIDS then they sent a messenger to the door to say 'you are now report to the Army Training Camp at once! You are to leave everything as is for the replacement to use to continue teaching your class. As it is we are running very late so lets get a move on!'

 **Kari:** Who was your very LAST Geography Teacher that was usurped from the classroom to teach the Army Recruits?

 **Sierra thinks back to ninth grade then says:** I believe his name was Breakwire. Round about 6'9/6'10" wheat color, he was single-well divorced when he started teaching, much like Dustin he was searching for his kids mainly his son and daughter that his ex-wife took off with two years after the war started. He staunchly refused to report to the Army Recruit Training Facility stating and I quote 'I signed up to teach High School Geography not teach morons who didn't finish high school how to read a map! No thank you! Go tell whatever his name is to ahem himself and get a topographer aka an F-ing map maker not me! I studied to be a Geography Teacher not a map maker, now take your papers and shove 'em where the sun don't shine. I have ninth graders waiting for me to start class.' Lets just say the runner stood there for a few minutes before coming back with 'I'm afraid you don't understand, you're not being given a choice in the matter. You've been drafted as map maker and I have a replacement waiting to take over for you.' Then he came back with 'What part of Cartographer don't you understand? Go find someone who studied to be a damned map maker and recruit them! I'm a damned Geography Teacher, my path does NOT cross with a Cartographer! I'm a Geographer and this is my job's description: A Geographer is a scholar whose area of study is Geography, the study of the planet's natural environment and society. Although Geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of Cartography, a subset of Geography. Geographers do not study only the details of the natural environment or society, but they also study the reciprocal relationship between these two. For example, they study how the natural environment contributes to society and how society affects the natural environment. Now go take that description to your boss and remind him that Geographers and Cartographers are not one in the same job. Now good bye and take that high school drop out Geography Teacher wannabe with you!'

 **Kari:** Yep that's Breakwire for you. He knew what he went to school for and what his job entailed. He studied his favorite Subject and graduated with a Masters Degree in Geography then went off to Teacher's College and University graduating at the top of his class like number one in his class. He signed on to teach high shool Geography not to be told by some Army lacky that 'hey my boss demands you come make maps for the guys out in the field. So lets go go go go!'

 **Sierra:** The guys out in the field have had access to GPS devices since this war started, of what use would a Geographer be to them? What they wanted was someone who studied to be a map maker to help them make up-to-date maps of the frontlines. That's where the gift of Drones comes in, no one goes out into the field to be either captured or killed, it's all done by remote and the results are downloaded onto a computer and printed out in map format. But what I still want to know is how the B Crew got into all the Accelerated classes when they were never chosen to be in the accelerated program is still beyond me.

 **Crystal:** I asked the same question, what are those girls doing in the accelerated program when they weren't selected to be taking those classes.

 **Sierra:** I don't know but they didn't last very long in the accelerated program.

 **JT:** Mom would it be alright if I stayed one night with Sierra? She can help me get ready for the stupid mandatory social studies event.

 **Kari:** Don't you have classes as well?

 **Sierra:** Nope, I'm done school.

 **Kari:** Oh that's right, sorry I keep forgetting you were in the accelerated program to get you out earlier than eighteen. This silly thing is set up for next Friday so I don't see why you can't stay next Thursday and come home on the following Monday. Which place will you be staying at? Jewel Tower or home?

 **Sierra stretches and says:** Jewel Tower. Rei-Anne will be there next weekend so you can take her home to pack a weekend bag then bring her back and drop her off at the door with Bert who will take her the rest of the way up to my palce. Bert's a big kid himself,a great grandfather ten times over and loves animals.

 **Crystal:** So did anyone find Lilly-Belle? She got so spooked and took off like a bolt of lightening.

 **Sierra:** Yeah she was found, whoever was training her to walk on a harness, had the wrong size and style of harness on her. Lilly-Belle is still young and spooks easily,she needs a comfort-thunder shirt style harness with built in leash size xx small. The harness she was wearing when found was a medium and she was swimming in it with a broken leg. A friend of mine took her home and cared for her training her to walk in a harness with built in leash. **(Sees Stacey with Lilly-Belle and says)** Four legged delivery for Bryce at the patio door.

 **Bryce turns in his chair and says:** Is that Lilly-Belle? She's so BLACK and calm!!

 **Sierra:** She's fresh off of a spa visit and they brought out her natural fur color and Lilly-Belle picked out the dress,collar and harness she's wearing.

 **Stacey opens the patio door,sets Lilly-Belle on her paws and says:** Go find daddy Lilly. **(Watches as Lilly-Belle runs straight for Bryce saying)** She's had a full groom, a luxurious moisturizing bubble bath with moisturizing deep oatmeal conditioner as her coat was brittle and dry,we put moitzurizing eye drops in her eyes since they were irritated,her teeth were brushed and flossed,nails were ground down, ears were cleaned,she had a nice relaxing deep tissue massage as she was on edge, a full on moist air blow out,cut and a bow to match her dress,harness and collar to end it all. Whoever groomed her last rattled her nerves badly, she would only allow me to groom her. She is not pregnant just bound up so I gave her a natural dog friendly laxitive in the form of pumpkin and as you can see, the bloating is gone.

 **Bryce leans down and picks up a perfectly calm Lilly-Belle saying:** Whoo you are lighter to pick up! Must've been one helluva poop you had girl! No more booking Morris for a groomer. Next time you need a grooming session we'll book you in with Stacey for the samething you had today. I know for a fact I won't be trusting Tricia to leash train you anymore,she has the worlds most annoying ear splitting ringtone on her phone, no wonder you got scared right? It was her phone's ringtone that scared you.

 **Sierra:** My friend Dakota L'Orange-has her trained to walk with a harness, the poor thing was terrified of harnesses until Dakota fixed her fear by allowing Lilly-Belle to pick out the type of harness/leash set she liked. Turns out she likes to be comfy and stylish at the same time so I made her the harness dress she's wearing now out of her favorite dress that was too big and a thunder shirt so now she won't freak out around loud noises.

 **Bryce sets Lilly-Belle down on the stool beside him and says:** Has she eaten?

 **Stacey:** She ate a big spa meal before leaving the spa so she's good to go. If she gets bound up again, just give her a table spoon from a can of all natural pumpkin mixed in her food or mix in some coocnut oil to her food that should help her go. I printed off what she had done at the spa and we'll see the little lady back in about three to four months. Here's her travel suit case full of her clothes and toys all neatly packed to go home. **(Turns and leaves the restaraunt and heads back down the ramp to her car to head back to the salon)**

 **Terrence backs away from the table and picks up four dirty sets of dishes,cutlery and drinking glasses slipping them into a plastic bag saying:** It's high time we got the little kids home, bathed and into bed so they can get some sleep. C'mon guys, it's time to head home.

**Crystal backs away from the table,stands up and heads around the table to help the boys down off their booster chairs**

**Bryce backs away from the table,goes down to where Caitie and Callie sat and helps his sisters down out of their booster chairs,grabs Lilly-Belle's travel suitcase and leash picking her up and setting her down on her paws saying:** Well it's time to go home Lilly back to your own comfy princess bed in your princess corner of my room. **(Follows his parents out the patio doors and down the ramp to the stretched limo and piled in with he and Rei-Anne being first so they could ensure the four little ones were safely buckled into their car seats then sat down with Lilly-Belle on his lap followed by his other siblings and their parents who climbed in waiting for his aunt,uncle and their brood to come out)**

 **Kari pushes away from the table and says:** Kyle would you help your sisters down out of their chairs and ensure their faces and hands are cleaned off while I pack up the empty baby bottles? ( **tosses Kyle the wet cloth saying)** Use this to clean them up.

**Kyle slips off his chair and heads down the table to where his little sisters sat in booster chairs,unbuckles the safety belts from each little girl's waist and one by one sat them down on the floor,grabbing the wet cloth his mother had tossed him and quickly wiped off the faces and hands of his four sisters then tossed his mother back the dirty wash cloth saying: All cleaned up and ready to go home for a bath,climb into our jammies and then into bed for the night.**

**Pike gathers up four sets of dirty dishes,cutlery and glasses,slips them into a plastic handbag then stands up and turns the buggy away from him taking off the breaks saying:** Well then, let's not keep uncle Terry's clan waiting any longer. **(Watches as his six older kids filed out ahead of him and Kari each with a little one then heads down the ramp to the limo and ensures everyone was seated and buckled in before climbing in with the buggy and shutting the door)**

 **Sierra heaves a relieved sigh and says:** Now that that's over I can change my clothes. **(Grabs her over the shoulder bag and says)** I'll be back in a few minutes, just let them sit where ever they want and I'll be out in a few minutes.

 **Sebastian:** You got it!

**A few minutes later Sierra emerged from the family washroom wearing a pair of jeans and tshirt vest she'd stuffed into her over the shoulder bag and sat back down**

**Sierra:** You can let them in now Sebastian, everyone's gone.

 **Sebastian lets in Sierra's second set of guests saying:** She's waiting for you

 **Dakota barely recognizes Sierra saying:** What in the name of Drake DuCaine did you do to your hair to make the curls and waves come back to life?

 **Sierra:** Spent an entire afternoon having an extreme moisturizing session to restore the moisture it's lost from being styled so much! My poor hair was so dry it wasn't funny. I normally spend eight hours in a stylists chair on the road getting my hair 'straightened out' that my hair forgot it's naturally wavy and curly. Not everyone agrees that I 'look like Sierra' with wavy curly hair.

 **Mallory comes in and says:** Then who are you supposed to look like? Bozo the clown? I see nothing wrong with your natural hair style.

 **Sierra:** Where are you when I'm in the stylist chair hearing 'we have to tame this rats nest that you call hair! We can't send you out on stage until every last strand has been straightened out!' I say no, the stylists throw a hissy fit and start reciting the hair clause in my contracts that says they have control over how my hair is styled. Right now that part of ALL my hairstyling contracts are being rewritten stating that my hair is not to be changed. So now the replacement stylists can't use the loop hole to get their ways when I go back on the road when I'm good and ready.

 **Dakota sits beside Sierra and says:** Then you're not going back out on the road again after this?

 **Sierra:** No, I'm taking time off the road. **(Catches a glimpse of light glinting off a camera lense in the far right corner of the bushes and says)** Grin? One two three on the right.

 **Grin goes out onto the patio,reaches over the bushes,pulls a tabloid photographer off his feet, takes his camera and says:** Can I help you?

 **Photographer:** That's Starlight isn't it?!

 **Grin:** Not your business! Starlight's on the road right now. That is my friend and teammate Sierra big difference. Now scram!

 **Photographer:** I heard over the ham radio Sierra's in town and I'm going to expose her dirty laundry and the REAL reason behind her taking a hiatus from touring! All bets are that she's pregnant and has dropped out of school to have the baby in secret and the father of the baby is her tour manager! A covert love affair ending in an unwanted pregnancy!

 **Grin:** You are getting on my very last nerve! If you know what's good for you, you'll start running now before something very bad happens. You wouldn't want to disturb my inner peace now would you?!

**Photographer starts running down the ramp to his car and takes off**

**Sierra:** One two three on the left

 **Grin heads over to the left and grabs yet another tabloid photographer off his feet and says:** Make like a banana and split NOW!

**Photographer not wanting to get the seven foot duck any angrier than he was threw his camera down and ran towards his car,got in and drove off**

**Grin picks up two camera's then searches the bushes for more photographers before heading back up the ramp and into the private dining area closing the doors behind him saying:** They won't be back anytime soon if they know what's good for them.

 **Sierra spies Sebastian and says:** Is the second floor terrace available?

 **Sebastian:** Yes it is, just go up the stairs at the far end of the room. I'll have security do a sweep to ensure no photographers or videographers are hiding out.

 **Wildwing heads towards the back of the room and opens the door to reveal a stair case and says:** Let's head on upstairs at least then Sierra will have her privacy.

 **Sierra:** Go on ahead I still have to pack up my laptop's cord into it's case. **(Heads over to the wall socket and unplugs her laptop cord then winds it up then sticks it into the laptop case that she zips up and slips the strap over her shoulder and heads upstairs to the second floor terrace saying)** Didn't know I was pregnant by Dustin. One I'm pretty sure his wife would have something to say about him bedding a sixteen year old girl two I graduated from High School three years early three my band needs time to decompress, some of them are younger than the rest of us and don't qualify for early graduation and four I'm four volumes behind with my series and I really need this quiet time to get caught up on volumes fifteen onwards including the Art Books that I have to get put together and sent off to the publisher before too long.

 **Dakota:** Well no wonder I can't find anything beyond volume fourteen! Nothing's come out yet!

 **Sierra:** No, sorry I haven't had much time to myself to get anything ready for printing. Like I said, I'm four volumes and eight Art Books behind. I'll be lucky if I get the bonus books out on time. I've had so many interruptions to my time that I've grown frustrated enought to leave Mars and live full time in Jewel Towers just so that no one will come banging on my door in need of my help. I've taken my name out of the Sitter Data Base, I'm not registered for any type of training after my cast comes off. I'm off the grid until I'm caught up with my novels, bonus materials, Art Books and Poster Designs. My old publisher had this beautiful little bubble that he lived in, in which the books just automatically got done when I had time to myself. Well not too long ago I popped his bubble and brought him back down to reality by telling him that just one book takes at least six to eight months of prepping to be ready to send to the printer sometimes it takes a year to be ready before it goes off to the printers then the publishers to be published. The art books take at least a minimum of two years to compile all the artwork I have filed away because there's just so many unfinished pictures that are waiting to be outlined,shaded,colored and sent to the printer but I can't do that until I have at least one hundred and eighty seven prints ready for the printer who won't do any prints until he has between one hundred and eighty seven and two hundred and sixty three pages to print. That's usually two to three books which I don't mind because heck I can pull together enough prints to make a book the size of an Atlas and the thickness of War & Peace. Fans go crazy when I release books like that because when 'special' books are the size of pocket novels so the quality of the prints gets compromised a great deal where with the books the size of Atlases and thickness of War&Peace you get the absolute best quality of the print and you get to see the entire print the way it was drawn and you get to see what's in the background. One of my big books is a book filled with perforated posters that can be removed from the book and put up on walls. The first time I did this they forgot to perforate it closer to the top edge of the poster and had to reprint the book to perforate the pictures. Lots of people were pissed the first time but ecstatic the second time around with the perforated posters easier to pull out. I've made paper dolls of all the characters in the novels for the younger readers to play with and for older readers to collect.

 **Joey:** With all the colored pages you have, that shouldn't take long to compile.

 **Sierra:** No but I had so many stupid meetings I had to attend where I had to lay out all my posters and hear 'her skirt's too long, I can't see anything! Her top's too loose, what size bra does she wear? Her gym shorts are too loose! Her bottom's too small, I want her bottom to be the size of cantaloupes! I want her breasts to be nice and plump the size of medium sized seedless watermelons! What kind of romantic novel are you writing anyways?' So I wound up calling in a favor from someone higher up in the business and now I have a whole new publishing firm who took the contract away from the old firm after successfully suing them on grounds of destroying my last four volumes by altering what I had already done and publishing it saying that at long last volumes fourteen to eighteen were ready when they are no where near ready for publishing as they haven't even been written.

 **Dakota:** Wait, isn't that false publishing not to mention down and outright theft of personal property?

 **Sierra:** Not the way my old publishing company saw it. I 'left' behind some work so they felt it was their 'duty' to publish it even if it wasn't anything to do with the main series or the side character introduction books and the art books they released weren't even signed by me, they used an 'autograph' machine that automatically signed my name by scanning something with my signature on it then with a push of a button they had me signing everything and anything. Trouble is, I sign with my left hand not my right hand and the machine signed everything with a right hand slant not to mention it misspelled my pen name and I never ever sign with out reading it first which got a boat load of people mad but I'm not the one reading it, it's my attorney doing the reading and dumbing down of it just enough for me to grasp what's being said. The published materials were brainstorming ideas and character development ideas not meant for the public's eyes but they were published without my permisson by my former publishing company that had their rear ends handed to them on a platter by my lawyer on grounds of breech of contract and violation of privacy and publishing materials that weren't meant to be published in the first place.

 **Dakota:** Toby wants to know: 'How many kids are in your family?'

 **Sierra:** Me,Axel,Bridgette,Noelle,Matthias and little Nathan

 **Raider:** Where does everyone sleep?

 **Sierra:** We have the enitre sixth floor of Arsis Base to ourselves so we each have our own rooms and spaces. 

 **Dakota:** So have you found your friend?

 **Sierra heaves a sigh and says:** Yeah we did, he's in the hospital on a private floor in a private wing in a private room away from others in a medically induced coma to allow his body to recover. Northwind brought him on board my bus completely passed out with a high grade fever,wet raspy cough and having a hard time breathing. It's gonna be a long while before his body heals and gets over what ever it is he's battling. Which means now I'm working my shifts plus Ludwig's shifts until he's better. **(Thinks to herself)** _But not if I move him to the guardian realm and speed things up with intense healing from the Crystalline Healing Chamber the way Todd did. I have to remember to call and set it up so that it's ready for him when we arrive._

 **Joey:** So what're you doing after this? Going home to Mars or home to Jewel Towers?

 **Sierra:** Home to Jewel Towers, I don't start working again until tomorrow night or whenever Terry says he needs me to help him out. Next Thursday-Monday I'm slammed,I have friends staying the weekend and one needs my help for her social studies class assignment.

 **Dakota:** Whi--oh no no no! Her teacher didn't!

 **Sierra:** JT's teacher came up with this brilliant idea to have the girls dress like they did when Princes and Princesses ruled the land. What she didn't take into consideration is that Friday for JT's class is not only Social Studies but Gym,Art,Music and Science Classes. So I'd like to see how she's going to incorporate the girls being dressed like ladies complete with corsets into the lesson plans of the Gym Teacher, The Art Teacher, The Music Teacher and the Science Teacher. Somehow I don't think she thought about those classes when she came up with this lesson plan. So now not only do I have to help JT get ready very early Friday morning but I have to help her get changed for her gym,art and science classes. Right now I'm hoping her Gym,Art, Music and Science Teachers have all alotted extra time in their schedules to accomodate the change of wardrobe or are willing to shove everything ahead a week to accomodate this ridiculousness of her Social Studies Teacher. This is just as bad as when my Social Studies Teacher decided to have an identical brain child when I was JT's age. Except she had her bright idea on a Friday stating we'd go ahead with the plan on the following Tuesday to Friday not realizing that (a) my schedule was jam packed the following week with other projects,papers,quizzes and exams and (b) there was no way it would ever fly with parents of the other kids in my class and (c) I'm surprised that no one's parents have complained about this brilliant brain child. Though I wouldn't put it past Kari to complain that Friday is Gym for JT's class and Gym Class is more important than learning how people dressed back in my day because I wouldn't know. I lived in Egypt where I wore one dress year round. 

 **Joey:** You lived with a PHARAOH?!

 **Sierra:**  No, I was raised,taught and trained by Mahad. While the other girls in my social circle were having tea parties under trees on spread picnic blankets, I was learning to use my magic. Tea parties were mind numbingly boring, same old mindless chatter **'Guinivere is engaged to be married to Aloysius and it's certained to be a disaster leading to utter and complete humiliation for Guinivere's family's good name! I certainly did not expect Guinivere to get married so soon! After all they have only been engaged three months! Is Guinivere expecting a child and that's the reason behind the sudden rush to the altar.'**

 **Dakota:** Wait so Guinivere had been dating Aloysius for what three years,accepted his proposal of marriage and instead of being happy for the girl who just got engaged,suddenly it's doom and goom?!

 **Sierra:** Yeah, I've recieved many REQUESTS to go back home on behalf of Morgan but I simply disard them, she gets angry and insists that I return home at once. To this day she's mad as hell because I won't go home and tend to my 'Social Duties' like a good dutiful Lady does. I'm sorry but just no, I have no interest in sitting for three hours on a pedstal stool sipping tea while engaging in mindless,boring conversation about whose corset is laced the tightest, who completed the biggest tapestry in the shortest amount of time, who had just gotten engaged and was about to be married in six months time, who was assumed to be expecting outside of marriage and who was committing a fashion faux pas. Every time one of the girls my mother invited over would start the converstation **'You will NEVER believe as to whom I suspect is expecting out of wedlock!'** I always answer back **"Do you have absolute and concrete PROOF she isn't married? How do you know that he husband isn't out of town for a few days picking up some furnishings for their new marital home while she is carrying their first child? Next time you open your mouth under this roof to spread unwarranted gossip about a married girl, think twice or I'll ask you to leave and not return. My parents do NOT condone gossip that can ruin other peoples reputation. If you have nothing more important to do other than surmise that so and so is expecting out of wedlock because she doesn't sport a wedding ring, may I suggest you look at her third right hand finger? She'll be wearing a wedding band that isn't so extravagant because she and her new husband are just starting out. Promise,Engagement and Wedding Bands are expensive and most girls go for a nice silver wedding ring with a modest sized diamond in the center because often times starting out ,money is tight and needed elsewhere. If you've only come here to gossip and spread malicious rumors, there's the front door go home or go to someone else's house who actually gives a flying fig and has time to listen to you blather on and on about Sally-Anne being pregnant..big deal! So she and her husband are expecting their first baby I DON'T CARE! I have NO INTEREST in your blathering, so please just go home so I can get back to what I was doing before you arrogant balthering fools interrupted my day and my schedule. Good bye and good day!'**

 **Joey:** Is that all they do? Surmise that a girl is pregnant out of wedlock because they don't see the ginormous wedding band on her finger or a husband on her arm?

 **Sierra:** Oh yes,that's all they'd come to tea to do, bash another newly married girl because they were originally courting her husband but he chose the young lady he's married to because of her piety and common sense not to gossip about other people without proof.

 **Dakota:** That's how reputations get ruined, by girls who have nothing better to do than surmise so and so's pregnant outside of wedlock and spread that malicious gossip around twn.

 **Joey** : What did you expect though? These girls were kept under several sets of strict home rules that dictated how they dressed,how they spoke, how they behaved in public and in private and what type of young man they were and weren't permitted to court.

 **Sierra:** It's those kinds of girls who didn't get into my court in the first place. The girls you see in the portraits of my guard all have skill sets that the gossipers don't have. They know how to take care of themselves, matter of fact four of my eight female guards have former assasins for fathers who had no qualms about teaching their daughters every single deadly move they knew and mastered. Sora the only ginger in my guard, can literally smell a scam in the works and can put a stop to it in a heartbeat. Her dad was one of the many assasins that protected my grandfather and she learned her father's skill set


End file.
